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SHAKESPEARE. 

Others abide our question. Thou art free. 

We ask and ask. Thou smilest and art still, 

Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill, 

Wlio to the stars uncrowns his majesty, 

Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea, 

Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place. 

Spares but the cloudy border of his base 

To the foiled searching of mortality ; - 

And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know. 

Self -schooled, self-scanned, self -honoured, self-secure, 

Didst tread on earth unguessed at. Better so ! 

All pains the immortal spirit must endure, 

All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow, 

Find their sole speech in that victorious brow. 

Matthew Arnold. 



^/ 



\\- 



SHAKESPEARE'S 



TRAGEDY OF 



lAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK. 



EDITED. WITH NOTES, 

BY 

HOMER B. SPRAGUE, A.M., Ph.D., 

PRESIDENT OF MILLS COLLEGE; FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE GIRLS' 
HIGH-SCHOOL, BOSTON. 



CRITICAL COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS AND PLANS FOR 

STUDY, SPECIMENS OF EXAMINATION PAPERS, 

AND TOPICS FOR ESSAYS. 



)^.3 



:V^^' 





'^ 



CHICAGO: 
S. R. WINCIIELL & CO., PUBLISHERS. 






Copyright, 1885, 
By homer B. SPRAGUE. 



ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED 

BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 

BOSTON. 



PREFACE. 



This edition of Hamlet is intended for the special needs of 
students, but it is hoped that the general reader may find it useful. 
It will be found to differ from all other editions in four important 
respects : — 

First, The notes, though copious, are all arranged upon the prin- 
ciple of stimulating rather than superseding thought. A glance at 
any page will show this. 

Secondly, It gives results of the latest etymological and critical 
research. 

Thirdly, It gives the opinions of some of the best critics on 
almost all disputed interpretations. 

Fourthly, It presents the best methods of studying English litera- 
ture by class-exercises, by essays, and by examinations. (See the 
Appendix.) 

The editor will be very grateful for any suggestions of errors 
tliat may have escaped his notice. 

HoMEK B. Speague. 

Girls' High School, Boston, 
August 1, 1885. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction to Hamlet 11 

Early Editions. — Sources of the Plot. — Hystorie of Hamblet. 

Critical Comments 13 

Yoltaire. — Goethe. — Coleridge. — Schlegel. — Mrs. Jameson. 
— Klein. —Victor Hugo. — Taine. — Lowell. — Hudson. — 
March. — Werder. — Weiss. — Furness. — Dowden. 

Hamlet 23 

Appendix : 

How to study English Literature 213 

Martin. — Williston. — Buchan. — Fleay. — Hudson. — John- 
son. — Kellogg. — Blaisdell. — The present editor. 

Specimen Examination Papers 218 

Topics for Essays 222 

Index 223 

9 



s-^ 



INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET. 



EAELY EDITIONS. 

Folios, — The earliest collected edition of Shakespeare's plays 
was the Folio of 1623. It contains all the dramas usually attributed 
to him except Pericles, and is known as the First Folio. 

The Second Folio, containing Milton's famous epitaph on Shake- 
speare, was issued in 1632. It is a reprint of the first, with some 
emendations which are not always improvements. 

The Third Folio, 1663 and 1664, contains seven added plays, of 
which but one, Pericles, is now assigned to Shakespeare. 

The Fourth Folio was printed in 1685. 

Quartos. — During his life, and after his death, appeared plays of 
Shakespeare in quarto form. Among them were these of Hamlet : — 

Quarto of 1603, known as the First Quarto (imperfect); 

Quarto of 1604, known as the Second Quarto (good) ; 

Quarto of 1605, known as the Third Quarto (reprint of second); 

Quarto of 1611, known as the Fourth Quarto; 

Quarto undated, apparent reprint of the preceding, and known as 
the Fifth Quarto. 

These quartos all appeared during Shakespeare's lifetime. 

SOURCES OF THE PLOT. 

There appears to have been an old play, no longer extant, on the 
same subject, perhaps the joint work of Shakespeare and Marlow. 
" He will affoord you whole Hamlets, I should say Handfulls of tragi- 
cal speaches," writes Thomas Xash in an Epistle '^To the Gentlemen 
Students of both Universities," in 1589. The following entry, ^'9 of 
June 1594, Rd at hamlet . . . viij%" in Henslowe's Diary, is asso- 
ciated with an apparent allusion to Shakespeare's company of actors. 

^' Ye ghost which cried so miserally at ye theator, like an oisterwife, 
Hamlet reuenge.^^ This is in Lodge's Wits miser ie, and the Worlds 
madnesse, 1586. 

HYSTORIE OF HAMBLET. 

In Belief orest's Histoires Tragiques, printed at Paris in 1570, is foimd 
the Hystorie of Hamblet, a story taken from the Historiu Danica of 

11 



12 INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET, 

r 
Saxo Grammaticus, written near the close of the twelfth century. In 
some important particulars the narrative is the same as Shakespeare's: 
in others it is very different. 

We have space but for the titles of the chapters in The Hystorie of 
Hamblet {London: 160S). They are as follows : — 

Chap. I. How Horvendile and Fengon were made Governours of 
the Province of Ditmarse, and how Horvendile marryed Geruth, the 
daughter to Roderick, chief K. of Denmark, by whom he had Hamblet: 
and how after his marriage\his brother Fengon slewe him trayterously, 
and marryed his brothers wife, and what followed. 

Chap. II. How Hamblet counterfeited the mad man, to escape the 
tyrannic of his uncle, and how he was tempted by a woman (through 
his uncles procurement) who thereby thought to undermine the Prince, 
and by that meanes to find out whether he counterfeited madnesse or 
not; and hoAv Hamblet would by no meanes be brought to consent unto 
her, and what followed. 

Chap. III. How Fengon, uncle to Hamblet, a second time to in- 
trap him in his politic madness, caused one of his counsellors to be 
secretly hidden in the queenes chamber, behind the arras, to heare 
what speeches passed between Hamblet and the Queen; and how 
Hamblet killed him, and escaped that danger, and what followed. 

Chap. IIII. How Fengon the third time devised to send Hamblet 
to the King of England, with secret letters to have him put to death: 
and how Hamblet, when his companions slept, read the letters, and 
instead of them counterfeited others, willing the King of England to 
put the two messengers to death, and to marry his daughter to Hamblet, 
which was effected ; and how Hamblet escaped out of England. 

Chap. Y. How Hamblet, having escaped out of England, arrived 
in Denmarke the same day that the Danes were celebrating his funerals, 
supposing him to be dead in England; and how he revenged his fathers 
death upon his uncle and the rest of the courtiers; and what followed. 

Chap. VI. How Hamlet, having slaine his Uncle, and burnt his 
Palace, made an Oration to the Danes to shew them what he had 
done; and how they made him King of Denmark; and what followed. 

Chap. VII. How Hamlet, after his coronation, went into Eng- 
land ; and how the King of England secretly would have put him to 
death; and how he slew the King of England, and returned againe 
into Denmarke with two wives; and what followed. 

Chap. VIII. How Hamblet, being in Denmarke, was assailed by 
Wiglerus his Uncle, and after betrayed by his last wife, called Herme- 
trude, and was slaine; after whose death she married his enemie, 
Wiglerus. 

There is extant an old German play entitled Der Bestrafte Bnider- 
mord Oder Prinz Hamlet aus Da en m ark (^'Freitvicide punished, or 
Prince Hamlet of Denmark"), supposed to be ''a translation of an 



INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET. 13 

old English tragedy, and most probably the one which is the ground- 
work of the Quarto of 1603." For an admirable translation of it, as 
well as for an interesting resume of the discussion of the subject of 
English actors in Germany in Shakespeare's time, see the second 
volume of Furness's Variorum edition. 

CPwITICAL COMMENTS. 

[From Voltaire's ** Theatre Complete'' 1708.] 

A vulgar and barbarous drama, which would not be tolerated by the 
vilest populace of France or Italy. Hamlet becomes crazy in the second 
act, and his mistress becomes crazy in the third. The prince slays the 
father of his mistress under the pretence of killing a rat, and the heroine 
throws herself into the river. A grave is dug on the stage ; and the 
grave-diggers talk quodlibets worthy of themselves, while holding 
skulls in their hands. \Hamlet responds to their nasty vulgarities, in 
sillinesses no less disgusting. ^ In the mean while another of the actors 
conquers Poland. Hamlet, his mother, and his father-m-law carouse 
on the stage ; songs are sung at table ; there is quarrelling, fighting, 
killing. One would imagine this piece to be the work of a drunken 
savage. But amidst all these vulgar irregularities, which to this day 
make the English drama so absurd and so barbarous, there are to be 
found in Hamlet, by a bizarrerie still greater, some sublime passages 
worthy of the greatest genius. It seems as though nature had mingled 
in the brain of Shakespeare the greatest conceivable strength and 
grandeur with whatsoever witless vulgarity can devise that is lowest 
and most detestable. 

[From Goethe's " Wilhelra Meister," 1795.] 

I sought for every indication of what the character of Hamlet was 
before the death of his father; 1 took note of all that this interesting 
youth had been, independently of that sad event, independently of the 
subsequent terrible consequences, and I imagined what he might have 
been without them. 

Tender and nobly descended, this royal flower grew up under the 
direct influences of majesty; the idea of the right and of princely dig- 
nitj^ the feeling for the good and the graceful, with the consciousness 
of his high birth, were unfolded in him together. He was a prince, a 
born prince. Pleasing in figure, polished by nature, courteous from the 
heart, he was to be the model of youth and the delight of the world. . . . 

Figure to yourself this youth, this son of princes, conceive him vivid- 
ly, bring his condition before your eyes, and then observe him when he 
learns that his father's spirit walks; stand by him in the terrible night 
when the venerable Ghost itself appears before him. A horrid shudder 
seizes him; bespeaks to the mysterious form; he sees it beckon him; 
he follows it and hearkens. The fearful accusation of his uncle rings 
in his ears; the summons to revenge, and the jiiercing, reiterated pra^^er, 
"Remember me." . . . 

And, when the Ghost has vanished, who is it we see standing before 



14 INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET. 

us? A young hero panting for vengeance? A born prince, feeling 
himself favored in being summoned to punish the usurper of his crown ? 
No! Amazement and sorrow overwhelm the solitary young man; he 
becomes bitter against smiling villains, swears never to forget the de- 
parted, and concludes with the significant ejaculation, 

" The time is out of joint : O cursed spite, 
That ever I was boru to set it right! " 

In these words, I imagine, will be found the key to Hamlet's whole 
procedure. To me it is clear that Shakespeare meant, in the present 
case, to represent the effects of a great action laid upon a soul unfit for 
the performance of it. In this view the whole piece seems to me to be 
composed./ Here is an oak-tree planted in a costly vase, which should 
have borne only pleasant flowers in its bosom; the roots expand, the 
vase is shivered. ^ 

A lovely, pure, noble, and most moral nature, Avithout the strength 
of nerve which forms a hero, sinks beneath a burden which it cannot 
bear, and must not cast away. All duties are holy for him ; the pres- 
ent is too hard. Impossibilities have been required of him; not in 
themselves impossibilities, but such for him. He winds, and turns, and 
torments himself; he advances and recoils; is ever put in mind, ever 
puts himself in mind; at last does all but lose his purpose from his 
thoughts, yet still without recovering his peace of mind. 

[From Coleridc/e'' s " Notes and Lectures on Shakespeare,'' 1808.'] 

In Hamlet, Shakespeare seems to have wished to exemplify the moral 
necessity of a due balance between our attention to the objects of our 
senses, and our meditations on the workings of our minds, — an eqiii- 
libruim between the real and the imaginary worlds. In Hamlet this 
balance is disturbed; his thoughts, and the images of his fancy, are far 
more vivid than his actual perceptions; and his very perceptions, in- 
stantly passing through the medium of his contemplations, acquire, as 
they pass, a form and a color not naturally their own. Hence we see a 
great, an almost enormous, intellectual activity, and a proportionate 
aversion to real action, consequent upon it, with all its symptoms and 
accompanying qualities. This character Shakespeare places in circum- 
stances under which it is obliged to acj; on the spur of the moment. 
Hamlet is brave, and careless of death ;/but he vacillates from sensibil- 
ity, and procrastinates jfrom thought, and loses the power of action in 
the energy of resolvej;f Thus it is that this tragedy presents a direct 
contrast to that of McCcheth : the one proceeds with the utmost slowness, 
the other with a crowded and breathless rapidity. 

The effect of this overbalance of the imaginative power is beautifully 
illustrated in the everlasting broodings and superfluous activities of 
Hamlet's mind, which, unseated from its healthy relation, is constantly 
occupied with the world within, and abstracted from the world without, 
— giving substance to shadows, and throwing a mist over all common- 
place actualities. . . . He mistakes the seeing his chains for the break- 
ing of them, delays action till action is of no use, and dies the victim of 
mere circumstance and accident. 



INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET. 15 

[From SchleyeVs ^'Dramatic Literatures^' 1809.] 

Hamlet has no firm belief, either in himself or in any thing else. 
From exi^ressions of religious confidence he passes over to sceptical 
doubts. He believes in the ghost of his father as long as he sees it ; 
but as soon as it has disappeared, it appears to him almost in the light 
of a deception. He has even got so far as to say, "(There is nothing 
either good or bad but thinking makes it s(J>" With him the poet loses 
himself here in labyrinths of thought, in which neither end nor begin- 
ning is discoverable. The stars themselves, from the course of events, 
afford no answer to the question so urgently proposed to them. A 
voice from another world, commissioned, it w^ould appear, by Heaven, 
demands vengeance for a monstrous enormity, and the demand remains 
without effect. The criminals are at last punished, but, as it were, by 
an accidental blow, and not in the solemn way requisite to convey to 
the world a warning example of justice. Irresolute foresight, cunning 
treachery, and impetuous rage, hurry on to a common destruction ; the 
less guilty and the innocent are equally involved in the general ruin. 
The destiny of humanity is there exhibited as a gigantic sphinx, Avhich 
threatens to precipitate into the abyss of scepticism ail who are unable 
to solve her dreadful enigmas. 

[Fi'om Mrs. Jameson's "Characteristics of Women,'' 1832.] 

Ophelia — poor Ophelia! Oh, far too soft, too good, too fair, to be cast 
among the briers of this working-day world, and fall and bleed upon the 
thorns of life! What shall be said of her ? for eloquence is^mute before 
her! Like a strain of sad, sweet music which comes floating by us on the 
w^ngs of night and silence, and which we rather feel than hear; like 
the exhalation of the violet, dying even upon the sense it charms; 
like the snow-flake dissolved in air before it has caught a stain of earth ; 
like the light surf severed from the billow, which a breath disperses, — 
such is the character of Ophelia: so exquisitely delicate, it seems as 
if a touch would profane it; so sanctified in our thoughts by the last and 
worst of human woes, that we scarcely dare to consider it too deeply. 
The love of Ophelia, which she never once confesses, is like a secret 
which we have stolen from her, and which ought to die upon our hearts 
as upon her own. Her sorrows ask not words, but tears; and her mad- 
ness has precisely the same effect that would be produced by the spec- 
tacle of real insanity, if brought before us : we feel inclined to turn 
away, and veil our eyes in reverential pity and too painful sympathy. 

Beyond every character that Shakespeare has drawn (Hamlet alone 
excepted), that of Ophelia makes us forget the poet in his own creation. 
Whenever we bring her to mind, it is with the same exclusive sense of 
her real existence, without reference to the wondrous power which 
called her into life. The effect (and what an effect!) is produced by 
means so simple, by strokes so few and so unobtrusive, that we take no 
thought of them. It is so purely natural and unsophisticated, yet so 
profound in its pathos, that, as Hazlitt observes, it takes us back to the 
old ballads; we forget that, in its i3erfect artlessness, it is the sui^reme 
and consumate triumph of art. 



16 INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET. 

The situation of Ophelia in the story is that of a young girl who, at 
an early age, is brought from a life of privacy into the circle of a court, 
such as we read of in those early times, at once rude, magnificent, and 
corrupted. She is placed immediately about the person of the queen, 
and is apparently her favorite attendant. The affection of the wicked 
queen for this gentle and innocent creature is one of those beautiful 
redeeming touches, one of those penetrating glances into the secret 
springs 6i natural and feminine feeling, which we find only in Shake- 
speare. /Gertrude, who is not so wholly abandoned but that there re- 
mains within her heart some sense of the virtue she has forfeited, seems 
to look with a kind yet melancholy complacency on the lovely being 
she has destined for the bride of her son ; and the scene in which she 
is introduced as scattering flowers on the grave of Ophelia is one of 
those effects of contrast in poetry, in character, and in feeling, at once 
natural and unexi:)ected ; which fill the eye, and make the heart swell 
and- tremble within itself, -r^ like the nightingales singing in the grove 
of the Furies in Sophocles. V 

It is the helplessness of Ophelia, arising merely from her innocence, 
and jiictured without any indication of weakness, which melts us with 
such profound pity. She is so young, that neither her mind nor her 
person has attained maturity. She is not aware of the nature of her 
own feelings : they are prematurely developed in their full force before 
she has strength to bear them ; and love and grief together rend and 
shatter the frail texture of her existence, like the burning fluid poured 
into a crystal vase. She says very little, and what she does say seems 
rather intended to hide than to reveal the emotions of her heart ; yet, 
in those few words we are made as perfectly acquainted with her char- 
acter, and with what is passing in her mind, as if she had thrown forth 
her soul with all the glowing eloquence of Juliet. 

[L. Klein's Berliner Modenspiegel, 1846.] 

The tragic root of this deepest of all tragedies is secret guilt. Over 
fratricide, with which history introduces its horrors, there rests here in 
this drama a heavier and more impenetrable veil than over the primeval 
crime. There the blood of a brother, murdered without any witness of 
the deed, visibly streaming, cries to Heaven for vengeance. Here the 
brother in sleep, far from all witnesses or the possible knowledge of any 
one, is stolen upon and murdered. . . . The horror of this crime is its 
security; the horror of this murder is that it murders discovery. . . . 
This Cain's deed is known to no one but the murderer, and to Him who 
witnesses the murderer's secret remorse. The son has no other cer- 
tainty of the unwitnessed murder than the suspicion generated by his 
ardent filial love, the prophecy of his bleeding heart, " O my prophetic 
soul!" no other conviction but the inner psychological conviction of 
his acute mind; no other power of proving it but that which results 
from the strength of his strong, horror-struck understanding, highly 
and philosophically cultivated by reflection and education; no other 

1 In the CEdipus Ooloneus. 



INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET. 17 

testimony than the voice of his own soul inflamed and penetrated by 
his filial affection; no other light upon the black crime hidden in the 
bosom of the murderer than the clear insight of his own soul. Ven- 
geance is impossible, for its aim hovers in an ideal sphere. It falters, 
it shrinks back from itself, and it must do so, for it lacks the sure basis, 
the tangible hilt ; it lacks what alone can justify it before God and the 
world, material proof. ... In Hamlet, Shakespeare has illustrated his 
great historical theorem by modes of proof different from those em- 
ployed in his other tragedies : that punishment is only guilt developed, 
the necessary consequence of a guilt voluntarily incurred. . . . The 
dogma that "Foul deeds will rise, though all the earth overwhelm them, 
to men's eyes," is proved here with fearful import. By this fundamental 
idea is Hamlet to be explained. 

[From Victor Hugo's '^William Shakespeare, '^ 1864.] 

One of the probable causes of Hamlet's feigning madness has never 
yet been indicated by the critics. Hamlet, it is said, played the mad- 
man to hide his thought, like Brutus. In fact, it is easy to cover a great 
purpose under apparent imbecility. The supposed idiot carries out his 
designs at his leisure. But the case of Brutus is not that of Hamlet. 
Hamlet plays the madman for his safety. Brutus cloaks his project ; 
Hamlet, his person. The manners of these tragic courts being under- 
stood, from the moment that Hamlet learns from the Ghost of the crime 
of Claudius, Hamlet is in danger. The superior historian that is in the 
poet is here manifest, and we i3erceive in Shakespeare the profound 
penetration into the dark shades of ancient royalty. In the middle 
ages and in the later em^Dire, and even more ancientlj^, woe to him who 
discovered a murder or a poisoning committed by a king ! ... To know 
that the king was an assassin, was treason! 

[From Taine's " Histoire de la Litterature Anglaise," 1866.] 

This convulsive outburst [i.e., his brief soliloquy immediately after 
his interview with the Ghost], this fevered writing hand, this frenzy 
of intentness (de r attention), prelude the approach of a monomania. 
When his friends come up, he treats them with the speeches of a child 
or an idiot. He is no longer master of his words ; hollow plirases whirl 
in his brain, and fall from his mouth as in a dream. They call him ; he 
answers by imitating the ctj of a sportsman whistling to his falcon : 
*'Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come." Whilst he is in the act of 
swearing them to secrecy, the Ghost below repeats, " Swear." Hamlet 
cries, with a nervous excitement and a fitful gayety : — 

" Ah ha, boy I eay'st thou so? art thou there, true-penny? — 
Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage — 
Consent to swear. . . . 

Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. 

Hamlet. Hie et ubique ? then we'll shift our ground. 
Come hither, gentlemen, . . . swear by ray sword. 

Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. 

Hamlet. Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast? 
A worthy pioner ! " 



18 INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET. 

Understand that, as he says this, his teeth chatter, "pale as his 
shirt, his Jinees knocking each other." Intense anguish ends with a 
burst of laughter, which is nothing else than a spasm. Thenceforth 
Hamlet speaks as though he had a chronic nervous attack. His 
madness is feigned, I admit ; but his mind, as a door whose hinges are 
twisted, swings and bangs to every wind with a mad precipitance and 
with a discordant noise. He has no need to search for the strange ideas, 
apparent incoherencies, exaggerations, the deluge of sarcasms, which 
he accumulates : he finds them within him. He does himself no vio- 
lence ; he simply gives himself up to them. ... It is clear that this 
state is a disease, and that the man will die. 

[^From James Russell LowelVs ^'Shakespeare Once More," in ''Among My 

Books," 1870.] 

In Hamlet, though there is no Denmark of the ninth century, Shake- 
speare has suggested the prevailing rudeness of manners quite enough 
for his purpose. We see it in the single combat of Hamlet's father with 
the elder Fortinbras, in the vulgar wassail of the king, in the English 
monarch being expected to hang Rosencrantz and Guildenstern out of 
hand merely to oblige his cousin of Denmark, in Laertes, sent to Paris 
to be made a gentleman of, becoming instantly capable of any the most 
barbarous treachery to glut his vengeance. We cannot fancy Ragnar 
Lodbrog or Eric the Red matriculating at Wittenberg; but it was es- 
sential that Hamlet should be a scholar, and Shakespeare sends him 
thither without more ado. All through the play we get the notion of a 
state of society in which a savage nature has disguised itself in the 
externals of civilization, like a Maori deacon, who has only to strix^ and 
he becomes once more a tattooed Pagan with his mouth watering for a 
spare-rib of his pastor. Historically, at the date of Hamlet, the Danes 
were in the habit of burning their enemies alive in their houses, with 
as much of their family about them as might be to make it comfortable. 
Shakespeare seems purposely to have dissociated his play from history 
by changing nearly every name in the original legend. 

The grave-diggers' scene always impresses* me as one of the most 
pathetic in the whole tragedy. That Shakespeare introduced such scenes 
and characters with deliberate intention, and with a view to artistic 
relief and contrast, there can hardly be a doubt. We must take it for 
granted that a man whose works show everywhere the results of judg- 
ment sometimes acted with forethought. I find the springs of the 
profoundest sorrow and pity in this hardened indifference of the grave- 
diggers, in their careless discussion as to whether Ophelia's death was 
by suicide or no, in their singing and jesting at their dreary work. 

*' A pickaxe and a spade, a spade, 
For — and a shrouding-sheet : 
O, a pit of clay for to be made 
For such a guest is meet ! " 

We know who is to be the guest of this earthen hospitality, — how much 
beauty, love, and heartbreak are to be covered in that pit of clay. All 



INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET^ 21 

Julius CcEsar%. Neither Brutus nor Hamlet is the victim of an over- 
mastering passion, as are the chief persons of the later tragedies j 
e.g., Othello, Macbeth, Coriolanus« The burden of a terrible duty 
is laid upon each of them, and neither is fitted for bearing such a 
burden. Brutus is disqualified for action by his moral idealism, his 
student-like habits, his capacity for dealing with abstractions rather 
than with men and things, Hamlet is disqualified for action by his 
excess of the reflective tendencj^ and by his unstable will, which alter- 
nates between complete inactivity and fits of excited energy. Naturally 
sensitive, he receives a painful shock from the hasty second marriage 
of his mother ; already the springs of iaith and joy in his nature are 
embittered ; then follows the terrible discovery of his father's murder, 
with the injunction laid upon him to revenge the crime ; upon this, 
again, follow the repulses he receives from Ophelia, A deep melancholy 
lays hold of his spirit, and all of life grows dark and sad to his vision. 
Although hating his father's murderer, he has little heart to push on 
his revenge. He is aware that he is suspected and surrounded by spies. 
Partly to baffie them, partly to create a veil behind w^hich to seclude 
his true self, partly because his whole moral nature is indeed deeply 
disordered, he assumes the part of one whose wits have gone astray. 
Except for one loyal friend, he is alone among enemies or supposed 
traitors. Ophelia he regards as no more loyal or honest to him than his 
mother had been to her dead husband. The ascertainment of Claudius's 
guilt, by means of the play, still leaves him incapable of the last decisive 
act of vengeance. Not so, however, with the king, who, now recogniz- 
ing his foe in Hamlet, does not delay to despatch him to a bloody death 
in England. But there is in Hamlet a terrible power of sudden and 
desperate action. From the melancholy which broods over him after 
the burial of Ophelia, he rouses himself to the play of swords with 
Laertes ; and at the last, with strength which leaps up before its final 
extinction, he accomplishes the punishment of the malefactor. 



EXPLANATIONS. 

Abbott = the Shakespearian Grammar of Dr. E. A. Abbott, third edi- 
tion, 1873. 

A. 5. = Anglo-Saxon ; Dan. =Danish ; Fr. = French ; Gael. = Gaelic; 
Ger.= German; Gr. = Greek; O. E.= Old English, etc. 

Bracket = Etymological French Dictionary y by A. Brachet, translation, 

Furness = t\ieVariorum Shakespeare, Hamlet, by Dr. Horace Howard 
rness, 1877. 

Maetzner= Englische GrammatiTc, von E. Maetzner, 1860-65. 
Skeat = Etymological Dictionary of the Enqlish Lanauaqe, by Walter 
Skeat, 1882. j j j 

Storm<)nth = Dictionary of the English Language, by Rev. James Stor- 
nth, 1885. 

Webster = Noah Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 
Wedgyjood = Dictionary of English Etymoloc/y, by H. A. Wedgwood, 
• ond edition, 1878. 
K^" As to the numbers of the lines, Bolfe's admirable school edition 
5 been followed. 



courtiers. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 

Claudius, king of Denmark. 

Hamlet, son to the late, and nephew to the present king. 

PoLONius, lord chamberlain. 

Horatio, friend to Hamlet. 

Laertes, son to Polonius. 

Voltimand, 

Cornelius, 

rosencrantz, 

Guildenstern, 

OSRIC, 

A Gentleman, 

A Priest. 

Marcellus, I -^ 

_ > officers. 

Bernardo, ) 

Francisco, a soldier. 

Reynaldo, servant to Polonius. 

Players. 

Two Clowns, grave-diggers. 

Fort IN BRAS, prince of Norway. 

A Captain. 

English Ambassadors. 

Gertrude, queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet. 
Ophelia, daughter to Polonius. 

Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and 
other Attendants. 

Ghost of Hamlet's father. 

Scene : Elsinore, 



HAMLET. 



ACT I. 

Scene I. Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle, 

Francisco at Ms post. Enter to him Bernardo. 

Bernardo, Who's there? l 

Francisco, Nay, answer me ; stand, and unfold yourself. 
Bernardo, Long live the king ! 
Francisco, Bernardo? 

Bernardo. He. 5 

Francisco. You come most carefully upon your hour. 
Bernardo. 'Tis now struck twelve ; get thee to bed, Fran- 
cisco. 
Francisco, For this relief much thanks ; 'tis bitter cold, 
sAnd I am sick at heart. 

Bernardo, Have you had quiet guard? 

Francisco. Not a mouse stirring. 10 

Elsinore (Danish IMsingor) is on the east coast of the island of 
Zealand, ahout twenty-four miles north by east from Copenhagen. 
Accent of Elsinore ? Here, on a projecting spit of land, vStands the cas- 
tle of Kronborg, built during Shakespeare's youth. It commands the 
entrance to the Baltic. What of the mythic champion Holger, fabled 
*) be asleep in its vaults? — 1. Who's there? The usual military 
lallenge wa^, *' Who goes there ?" With what feelings does Bernardo 
:>proach? — 2. me. Is ??/c emphatic? ?/ojr'/'8e//? Is Francisco startled? 
Qpatient? — 3. Liong live the king! Is this phrase the watchword? 
ee line 15 below. The old French challenge Qui vive? (i.e , "For 
horn do you cry vive? ") was answered by Vive le roil (" Long live the 
ing ! ") — 0. upon your hour. Like our modern "on time"? — Is 
le clock striking? Note with what ease and naturalness the precise 
me, the weather, and the star-lit sky are indicated. — 8. Tn\iQ.\\ = fjveat? 
uchof? 7nany? May thanks be a singular noun? See '* Soul, thou 
ast much goods laid up for many years" (Luke xii. 19). — bitter = bit- 
;rly? Is coW a noun? J?>6o^^, § 1. — 9 sick at heart. The key-note of 
le tragedy struck? Skill in this? or lucky-accident? — 10. "^ mouse, 
oleridge says, " The attention to minute sounds — naturally associated 

23 



24 HAMLET, [act I. 

Bernardo. Well, good night. 
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, 
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. 

Francisco. I think I hear them. — Stand, ho ! Who is there ? 

Enter Horatio and Marcellus. 

Horatio. Friends to this ground. 

Marcellus. And liegemen to the Dane. 15 

Francisco. Give you good night. 

Marcellus. O, farewell, honest soldier : 

Who hath relieved you ? 

Francisco. Bernardo has my place. 

Give you good night. [Exit. 

Marcellus. Holla ! Bernardo ! 

Bernardo. Say, — 

What, is Horatio there? 

Horatio. A piece of him. 19 

Bernardo. Welcome, Horatio ; welcome, good Marcellus. 

Horatio. What, has this thing appeared again to-night? 

Bernardo. I have seen nothing. 

Marcellus. Horatio saj^s 'tis but our fantasy, 
And will not let belief take hold of him 
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us ; 25 

with the recollection of minute objects, and the more familiar and 
trifling, the more impressive from the unusualness of their producing 
any impression at all — gives a philosophical pertinency to this image; 
but it has likewise its dramatic use and purpose." Does it produce a 
sense of reality? — 13. rivals, partners? Lat. rivus, rivdlis, a brook; 
French, rivaU one who uses the same brook; rivals, those who dwell on 
opposite banks of it. Hence ? — make haste. Why ? — 14. Stand, etc. 
The modern challenge and responses are: " Who comes there ?" An- 
swer, " Friend [or " Friends," if there are two or more], with the coun- 
tersign." — "Advance, friend, [or, ''Halt, friends. Advance one,] with 
the countersign." The one challenged advances, and whispers the pass- 
word, and the sentinel replies, " The countersign is correct; pass." — 15. 
the Dane, the chief Dane, the king? See I. ii. line 44. So Turk for 
Grand Turk, in King Henry V.,Y. ii. 322. — 16. Give = May God give ? — O. 
What does here denote? surprise? sudden recognition? or — ? — 19. 
Horatio. Why his special inquiry about Horatio ? — piece. A jocular 
response showing incredulity ? Or is there deep n^eaning here ? He 
says this as he gives his hand [Warburton] ? — 21. What. " Marcellus 
im'^agines from Bernardo's excited manner that the Ghost has visited 
him already " ? — Most of the quartos assign this speech to Horatio; the 
folios, to Marcellus. Which is the better way ? — again. Says Coleridge, 
" Even the word ' again' has its credibilizinf/ effect. From speaking of 
* this thing,' Marcellus rises into ' this dreaded sight,' wiiich immediately 
afterwards becomes 'this apparition,' and that, too, an intelligent spirit 
that is to be spoken to.'-' — 23. fantasy (^anco, phaino, I show, 4)dvTaafxa, 
phantasma, appearance), imagination; caprice, whim ?~ 25. of, by ? Fre- 



SCENE I.] BAMLET. 25 

Therefore 1 have entreated him along 
With us to watch the minutes of this night, 
That if again this apparition come, 
He may approve our eyes and speak to it. 

Horatio. Tush, tush, 'twill not appear. 

Bernardo, Sit down awhile ; 30 

And let us once again assail your ears, 
That are so fortified against our story, 
What we two nights have seen. 

Horatio, Well, sit we down. 

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. 

Bernardo, Last night of all, 35 

When yond same star that's westward from the pole 
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven 
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, 
The bell then beating one, — 

Enter Ghost. 

Marcellus, Peace, break thee off ; look, where it comes 
again ! 40 

Bernardo, In the same figure, like the king that's dead. 
Marcellus, Thou art a scholar ; speak to it, Horatio. 
Bernardo, Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio. 

quent meaning? See IV. ii. 12; 1 Cor, xv. 5-8, etc. — 26. along. Should 
there be a comma after along? — 29. approve, corroborate the testimony 
of, confirm ? See Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 79. — 30. Tush. A common 
exclamation of impatience in Shakespeare. Does it originate, like pooh, 
in an expulsion of the breath, as if one would spit out what is dis- 
tasteful? — 31, 32. assail . . . fortify, appropriate military terms? — 
33. What, etc. = let us tell what? or with or by relating what we have 
seen? — sit v*^e. First person plural imperative? or subjunctive ? — 
(Abbott, 361.) — 35. Last night, etc. Does Bernardo, consciously or 
unconsciously, elevate his style? — 36. yond and yon are interchange- 
able? — pole = pole-star ? — 37. his = its? In Shakespeare, it, as pos- 
sessive, occurs fourteen times; 2fs nine times; its once. Rolfe. Milton 
uses iis three times. —illume, not found elsewhere in Shakespeare. — 
Difference between prose diction and poetic? — 39. beating. The first 
quarto has "toioling/^ Which is the better word? — bell. German 
glocke. — 40. thee, for thou? The Elizabethans reduced thon to thee, 
especially after an emphatic imperative, as here. — Macbeth, I. v. 23; 
Abbott, 212.— 42. scholar. — 3/f/c/i Ado About Nothing, II. i. 231. — The 
prescribed formulae of exorcism were in Latin. In Beaumont and 
Fletcher we read, 

" Let's call the butler up, for he speaks Latin, 
And that will daunt the devil." 

Coleridge calls attention to " the exquisite judgment of Shakespeare in 
this scene," awakening a sense of its reality, the two believers silencing 



26 BAMLET. [act I. 



Horatio, Most like ; it harrows me with fear and wonder. 

Bernardo, It would be spoke to. 

Marcellus^ Question it, Horatio. .45 

Horatio.rWhfxt art thou that usurp'st this time of night,) 
Together with that fair and warlike form ^ 

In which the majesty of buried Denmark 
Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak ! 

Marcellus, It is offended. 

Bernardo, See, it stalks away ! 50 

Horatio, Stay ! speak, speak ! I charge thee, speak ! 

[_Exit Ghost. 

Marcellus, 'Tis gone, and will not answer. 

Bernardo, How now, Horatio ! you tremble and look pale ; 
Is not this something more than fantasy? 
What think you on 't? 55 

Horatio, Before my God, I might not this believe 
Without the sensible and true avouch 
Of mine own eyes. 

Marcellus, Is it not like the king? 

Horatio. As thou art to thj^self : 
Such was the very armor he had on 60 

When he the ambitious Norway combated ; 
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle, 
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. 
'Tis strange. 

the sceptic. — 44. harrows. Real meaning ? — Milton's Comets, line 565. 
See I. V. 16. The quartos read horroiues. —45. would, ivlshes to? or oii(/ht 
to 9 See Abbott, 329. — Could not a ghost speak before being spoken to ? 
— 46. Usurp'st . . . time . . . form. Zeugma? The Ghost invades 
the night and assumes the form [Moberly] ?~49. sometimes^ some- 
time = formerly, at one time? Shakespeare uses both indifferently. — 
55. on't=:o/ it? or on it? Abbott, 181.— 56. might = could? '\Mi(/ht, 
the past tense of may, was originalh" used in the sense of loas able, or 
could.^^ Abbott, ol2. — 57. sensible. Active or passive sense ? Merchant 
of Venice, II. ix. 88; Macbeth, II. i. 36; Abbott, 3. — avouch, avowal, tes- 
timony? Not elsewhere a noun in Shakespeare. — Lat. ad, to ] votmn, 
vow; Fr. avoner, to confess. — For verbs used as nouns, see Abbott, 
451. — 60. armor. AVorn by him how long before? See V. i. 136-141. 
How old is Horatio? Hamlet? — 61. Norway, the king of Norway? 
or the Norwegian ? Macbeth, I. ii. 59. Louis XIV. was not the only 
monarch that imagined himself to be the state! See line 15. — 62. 
parle, parley. Lat. iKirabolare, to relate, becomes successively para- 
blare, paravlare,paroler, parler. Brachet. — Parlor is the talking- room, and 
parliament what Carlyle calls the "talking apparatus " ! — 63. Polacks, 
Polanders. In first quarto (1603), it is pollax ; in first and second folios 
(1623 and 1632), it is Pollax; in third folio (1663), Polax ; in the fourth 
(1685) Poleaxe. Did he strike the Polanders " sledded," i.e., who ride in 
sleds, sledges, or sleighs ? Or did he smite his sledded (sledged, sledge^ 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 27 

Marcelhis, Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, 
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. 6ij 

Horatio. In what particular thought to work I know not ; 
But in the gross and scope of my opinion. 
This bodes some strange eruption to our state. 

Marcellus. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows. 
Why this same strict and most observant watch 71 

So nightly toils the subject of the land, 
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, 
And foreign mart for implements of war ; 
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 75 

Does not divide the Sunday from the week ; 
AYhat might be toward, that this sweaty haste 
Doth make the night joint-laborer with the day : 
Who is 't that can inform me? 

Horatio, That can I ; 

At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, 80 

Whose image even but now appeared to us. 
Was, as you know, by For tin bras of Norway, 
Thereto prick 'd on by a most emulate pride, 
Dar'd to the combat ; in which our valiant Hamlet — 
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him — 85 



like) pole-axe on the ice ? See II. ii. 63. — For a good deal of "admira- 
ble fooling " on this line, see Furness. — Go. jump, just, exactly ? V. ii. 
363. The folios have just. — dead. See I. ii. 198. So " dead midnight " 
in Measure for Measure. — 67, 68. particular thought, special line of 
thought ? — work, study, build an opinion ? — gross and scope, general 
tendency, general interpretation, lai'ge view? — 70. Good. Abbott 
(Shakes. Gram. § 13) makes this a " vocative use," as if it were, " Good 
sirs." In this he is followed by Corson, Rolfe, and others. Hudson 
makes it equivalent to '' well." Dr. Johnson makes good iioiv mean in 
good time, a la bonne heure. What interpretation do you prefer ? — 72. 
"toils = causes to toil? Abbott, 290, 291; Macbeth, II. iv. 4. — subject^ 
the people ? Collective noun ? See " the general," II. ii. 423. —^3. cast, 
making in moulds? — 74. mart. (Shortened from market) purchasing, 
trade ? Lat. mer-eret to get, gain ; merx, gain, or ' the earning one ' ; mer- 
carl, to trade. Skeat. — 75. impress, impressment ? or what ? What was 
a " press-gang " ? Were shipwrights as well as common sailors liable 
to be " pressed" into the English service ? See Lord Campbell's Legal 
Knoicledge of Shakespeare. — 76. divide, distinguish? — w^eek, week- 
days? — 77. tow^ard, at hand, imminent, approaching, in preparation? 
See V. ii. 353. A. S. to, supposed to be related to Gr. suffix -5e, de, 
towards; A. S. U'ea?"cZ== becoming or tending to. Skeat. — 80. so, as I 
am going to tell? — 82. Fortinbras, he of the iron arm? Lat. /e?-?'i 
brachium, arm of iron. — 83. pricked on, spurred on? Who was 
pricked on ? — emulate is not found elsewhere in Shakespeare. — He is 
partial to these passive forms. Moberly. — 84. the combat. The is used 
to denote notorietv ? A French-like use of the word ? The combat 



28 HAMLET, [act I. 

Did slay this Fortinbras ; who, by a seal'd compact, 

Well ratified by law and heraldry. 

Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands 

Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror : 

Against the which a moiety competent , 90 

Was gaged by our king ; which had return'd 

To the inheritance of Fortinbras, 

Had he been vanquisher ; as, by the same covenant 

And carriage of the article design'd, 

His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, 95 

Of unimproved mettle hot and full, 

Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there 

Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes, 

For food and diet, to some enterprise 

That hath a stomach in't ; which is no other — 100 

is the decisive or mortal combat ? — 86. Is this line an Alexandrine (i.e., 
twelve-syllabled) ? Abbott, 469, 490. Or may we scan thus: 

Compact, accented on the last syllable through Latin influence ? Note 
the tendency to throw the accent back in English. Corson (introduc- 
tion to Legende of Goode Women) gives a multitude of examiiles. — 87. 
law and heraldry = law of heraldry? "code of honor"? Latin ^*«s 
fetiale. Hendiadys here? Like " beset with s/ia7?ie and courtesy,'^ i.e. ^ 
shame of discourtesy , in Merchant of Venice? Or are law and heraldry to 
be taken separately; '' ratified by law " meaning so as to be binding in 
laiv, and " ratified by heraldry " meaning so as to be binding in honor? 
— 88. those his. Legal and Latinized phraseology? Abbott, 239; 
Henry V., III. vi. 142; Julius Ccesar, III. i. 113. —89. seized, possessed? 
This legal term is still in use in tlie. sense of possessed. — 90. moiety 
(Lat. medietas; Fr. moitie), half. Here it means iwrtion? — Moiety, like 
half, originally means only a part. Moberly. — 91. gaged, pledged? 
wagered? Gage and loage are doublets? — Low Lat. vadium, akin to 
A. S. ived, a pledge. — The French gages =ivages. Dissyllable? — 93. 
covenant. One quarto (1676) reads compact; others have comart. 
Same meaning? Lat. con, together; venire, to come; convemre, to 
agree. — Scan as in line 86? Covenant a dissyllable? Abbott, 494. — 
94. carriage of the article designed = carrying out of the design of 
the articles [White]? purport of the articles of agreement drawn up 
[Johnson] ? — 96. unimproved = untutored [Clark and Wright] ? un- 
disciplined [Johnson] ? unimpeached [Singer and Dyce] ? ungovernable 
[Staunton]? unemployed [Schmidt]? — mettle, spirit, temper? Gr. 
/aeraAAaco, vietallao, I searcli after ; niraXXov, metallon, a pit, cave, mine, 
mineral, metal. Skeat. Lat. metallum, element, material, metal. 
"The early editions make no distinction between metal and mettle.'^ 
Rolfe. — Ti'. skirts. In As You Like It, III. ii. 315, we read, "skirts of 
a forest like fringe upon a petticoat." — 98. Shark'd up = clutched 
together [Moberly] ? The undiscriminating voracity of the fish implied 
here? — list, muster-roll? catalogue? or fellows*^ named therein? — 
lawless. The folios read landless. Better ? — resolutes = desperadoes, 
roughs, " food for powder " ? Abbott, 433. —99. food and diet. Ple- 
onasm ? They served for their "keep" alone ?— 100. stomach. 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 29 

As it doth well appear unto our state — 

But to recover of us, by strong hand 

And terms compulsative, those foresaid lands 

So by his father lost : and this, I take it. 

Is the main motive of our preparations, 105 

The source of this our watch, and the chief head 

Of this post-haste and romage in the land. 

Bernardo, I think it be no other but e'en so. 
Well may it sort that this portentous figure 
Comes armed through our watch, so like the king lio 

That was and is the question of these wars. 

Horatio, A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye. 
In the most high and palmy state of Rome. 
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell. 

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 115 

Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets : 
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, 

Repeatedly in Shakespeare this word means courage, as in Henry V., 
IV. iii. '66. Gr. o-ronxaxo?, stomachus, stomach, seat of courage ? But 
may not another meaning, suggested by the context, be included? — 
102. But = than? — 103. compulsative. The quartos read conijndsa- 
tonj. Compulsive is found III. iv. 86. Which best suits the metre here ? 
— 107. roiiiage, ransacking, ?'ir/7i?7i«(7mf/.? or bustle, turmoil ? Not used 
elsewhere in Shakespeare. Dutch ndm = TOom ; or hold of a ship. 
Boomage, from room, is like stowacje from stoic, and means nearly the 
same. A sailor term? To rummage = to clear the ship's hold; to 
search narrowly. Skeat. Webster gives the et3^mology of re, again, 
and mutare, to change. What did Shakespeare "know of navigation? 
See Tempest, I. i. — 108. be = may be ? ''Be expresses more doubt than 
2's, after a verb of thinking." Abbott, 2m; Othello, III. iii. 384.— 109. 
sort, suit, assort Itself? ov fall out, happen? — The cause and effect are 
proportionate and suitable [Johnson] ? — 111. question == subject and 
cause ? — 112. mote. In three quartos it is moth, '' which," says Rolfe, 
"probably had the same pronunciation." Is the metaphor felicitous ? 
A. S. mot, particle of dust, speck? or A. S. moththe, a moth? — 114. 
mightiest. "The superlative inflection est, like the Latin super- 
lative, is sometimes used to signify 'very,' with little or no idea of ex- 
cess." Abbott, 8. — 116. gibber (g hard as in give), to speak rapidly and 
inarticulately. " An imitative word, formed as a variant of jabber, and 
allied to gabble. The suffix -er is frequentative, and the base gib is a 
weak form of gab." Skeat. — 117. As stars, etc. Nearly all the com- 
mentators agree that the text is here corrupt. May we explain the ob- 
scurity by supposing Horatio to be in some excitement? Note that in 
the kindred passages in Julius Ccesar, Act I. sc. iii. 15-25; II. ii. 18-25, 
" Men all in fire walk up and down the streets," " And ghosts did shriek 
and squeal about the streets." Patting these together, we may under- 
stand Horatio's elliptical expressions thus: "The sheeted dead, look- 
ing like stars all ablaze, did utter shrieks and gibberish; and there were 
dews of blood" ("which drizzled blood upon the Capitol"), disasters 
foreboded, etc. Or,- as there is no difficulty until we reach the 117th 
line, supply mentally, before " As stars," etc., "A mote it is to trouble 



30 HAMLET, [act I. 



(' 



Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star 

.Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands 

Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse u 120 

^And even the like precurse of fierce evenls^ 

As harbingers preceding still the fates, 

And prologue to the omen coming on, 

Have heaven and earth together demonstrated 

Unto our climatures and countrymen. — 125 

But soft, behold 1 lo, where it comes again ! 

Be-enter Ghost. 

I'll cross it, though it blast me. — Stay, illusion ! 

If thou hast any sound, or use of voice. 

Speak to me ; 

If there be any good thing to be done, 130 

That may to thee do ease and grace to me, 

Speak to me ; 

If thou art privy to thy country's fate. 

Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, 

the mind's eye.'* Another interpretation is suggested by Massey (1872), 
viz.: Take lines 121 to 125, and insert them between lines 116 and 117. 
Try it. — 118. moist star, the moon? Water m the moon? Moist be- 
cause of dews? tides? or — ? — See Matt. xxiv. 29, 30; Winter's Tale, I. 
ii. 1, 415; Midsummer Night's Dream, II. i. 159; Plutarch's Julius Ccesar, 

— Disasters. Lat. dis, ill, and astrum, star (Gr. 6v?, dys, ill ; ao-r^p, 
aster, star), an astrological word, like influence, aspect, retrograde, etc. — 
119. Neptune's. Who discovered that tifie moon swaj^s the tides ? What 
did Shakespeare know of it ? — 120. to, to the same extent as if it were ? 

— doomsday. III. iv. 50. — 121. precurse (Latin prce, before; cursor, 
runner). — fierce, terrible? glaring? extreme? — 122. harbingers. A 
harbinger (as in Macbeth, I. iv. 45) originally was an officer who went in 
advance to prepare lodgings (herberge, harborage) for the king. — still = 
ever, constantly ? '* Allied to A. S. stilldre, to remain in a stall or place 
. . . still is ' brought to a stall or resting place ' . . . continually, abid- 
ingly, always, ever." Skeat, — 12'd. omen = portentous approaching 
event ? Metonymy ? — 124. demonstrated. Shakespeare sometimes 
accents this word on the first and sometimes on the second sj'^llable. 
Which is better here ? Subject of demonstrated ? object ? — 125. clima- 
tures = regions ? — Gr. Kkiveiv, klinein, to lean, slope; KM/xa, Jclima, 
slope, zone, region, climate. Does climate originate in the slope of the 
sun's rays ? Lines 108 to 125 are not in the folio (1H23). Are they impor- 
tant?— 127. I'll cross it, etc. What has given him more courage? — 
blast. It was once believed that whoever crossed a spectre's path, or the 
spot where a spectre was seen, would pretty surely be blasted by it. Of 
the Earl of Derby, who was supposed to have died by witchcraft in 1594, 
it was said, '' On Friday there appeared a tall man who twice crossed him 
swiftly, and when the Earl came to this place where he saw this man 
he fell sick." Lodge. —129, 132, 135. The imperfect lines to be filled out 
by pauses, as if to give the Ghost opportunity to answer ? — 131. ease. 
It was believed that a ghost might be ** laid " by doing for it what it had 



\ 



SCENE I.] EAMLET. 31 

O, speak ! 135 

Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life 

Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, 

For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, 

\_The cock crows. 
Speak of it ; stay, and speak ! — Stop it, Maucellus. 

Marcellus. Shall I strike at it with my partisan ? 140 

Horatio. Do, if it will not stand. 

Bernardo. 'Tis here ! 

Horatio. 'Tis here ! 

Marcellus. 'Tis gone ! [Exit Ghost. 

We do it wrong, being so majestieal, 
To offer it the show of violence ; 

For it is, as the air, invulnerable, 145 

And our vain blows malicious mockery. 

Bernardo. It was about to speak, when the cock crew. 

Horatio. And then it started like a guilty thing ^ 

Upon a fearful summons. I have heard. 
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 150 

Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat 
Awake the god of day ; and at his warning, 
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, 
The extravagant and erring spirit hies 

left undone in life. — 134. happily, haply, perhaps [Clark & Wright, 
Nares, etc.] ? luckily, fortunately [Hudson, Tschischwitz, etc] ? Modi- 
fies may avoid? or foreknowino- ? Hudson thinks happily foreknowing 
= fortunate forekno\Yledge. For a passage parallel in structure, see 
As You Like It, II. iv. 30 to 38. — 138. walk. Extortioners not permitted 
to repose quietly after death? — tliey say. Does Horatio imply that 
he does not believe it ? What does the use of the word illusion imply 
in line 127? — 140. partisan, a pike ; or a kind of halberd, or steel- 
pointed pole with a sort of axe on it. The halberd of Miles Standish is 
shown at Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. — Low Lat. partizare, to 
divide ? or O. H. Ger. parta; later, barte, battle-axe, the -herd of English 
hal-berd. Skeat. — 141. Do. Horatio does not reverence this spirit? 
See line 148; II. ii. 585, 586; III. ii. 77. Very significant is "guilty 
thing"? Milton's Comus, 432. — 149. suninions (Fr. semonce, from 
O. Fr. somonse, from Lat. sub, under, and monere, to warn ■ sinnmonere, 
to remind privately. The s at the end of summons is not plural, nor is 
it from Lat. summoneas. JSkeat. — 150. trumpet = trumpeter ? as in 
Henry F., IV. ii. 61. — 151. lofty = elevated ? or lofty-sounding? — 153. 
sea or fire, in earth or air, the four elements of the old philosophers, 
each inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits ? So Milton (// Penseroso, 
93,94) speaks of "those demons that are found In fire, air, flood, or 
under ground." See Pope's Bape of the Lock. — 154. extravagant 
(Lat. extra, beyond; vagans, wandering), wandering beyond its proper 
limits? — erring (Lat. errdre, to rove, stray), roving? Note Shake- 
speare's use of Latin words in their strict etj^mological sense. Do they 
add dignity? Verify it. — hies. See Milton's Hymn on the Nativity, 



32 HAMLET. [act I. 

To his confine : and of the truth herein 155 

This present object made probation. 

Marcellus, It faded on the crowing of the cock. 
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
The bird of dawning singeth all night long ; 160 

And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad, 
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike, 
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm. 
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. 

Horatio. So have I heard and do in part believe it. 165 

But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, 
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill. 
Break we our watch up ; and, by my advice, 
Let us impart what we have seen to-night 
Unto young Hamlet ; for, upon my life, 170 

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. 
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, 
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? 

Marcellus, Let's do't, I pray ; and I this morning know 
Where we shall find him most conveniently. \_Exeiint, 175 

stanza 26. —155. confine, bound, limit? or place of confinement? 
Shakespeare accents first or second syllable. Which here ? Sonnet 
84; also Tempest, IV. i. 121. —156. probation = proof (as in Macbeth, 
III. i. 79, etc.) ? Lat. prohus, good ; probare, to judge of the goodness, 
to test, prove. — Four syllables ? The ending -ion is very often dissylla- 
ble in Shakespeare? — 158. 'gainst. Often used metaphorically, of 
time in the writers of Shakespeare's day. See III. iv. 50. — 161. spirit. 
This word often seems a monosyllable in Shakespeare. Is it necessary 
so to suppose it? — can walk. The folios read can loalke ; the first 
quarto, c/«7'e walke ; the other quartos, c^are sturre. Preference? — 162. 
strike = exercise a malignant influence? Moonstruck is still used. — 
Titus Andronlcus, II. iv. 14. Horace fears that Maecenas may be 
** struck " by the constellation Scorpio? — 163. takes = infests, bewitches, 
blasts, smites? Often so in Shakespeare. — 164. gracious, touched 
with divine grace, blessed. See V. ii. 85. — Gr. x^p^^j charis, favor, 
grace; Lat. gi'atia, grace. — 165. in part. Well said by Horatio? 
See note on 141. Moberly pronounces it " a happy expression of the 
half-sceptical, half-complying spirit of Shakespeare's time." But was 
Shakespeare thinking of that? — 166, 167. *'It must have been," says 
Hunter, "in emulation . . . that Milton wrote, 'Now Morn, her rosy 
steps in the eastern clime Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl.* 
. . . ^Russet,' rosy ;' e'dsteru \u\],' eastern clime ;' the dew,' orient pearl.'' 
— What time of the year was this scene? See I. i. 8; I. ii. 138; I. v. 
59; IV. vii. 165-168, etc. — 173. loves. Abstract noun in the plural ? It 
is often so in Shakespeare, when it relates to several persons. See I. ii. 
15, 251, 254 ; Macbeth, III. i. 121 . — 175. conveniently. So the folios. The 
quartos all have convenient, which was allowable enough, as adjective 
forms are very often used as adverbs in Shakespeare's time ? Which 
makes the better metre for the line ? — Value of this scene in the plot ? 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 33 



Scene II. A Room of State in the Castle, 

Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Vol- 
TiMAND, Cornelius, Lords, and Attendants. 

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death 
The memory be green, and that it us befitted 
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom 
To be contracted in one brow of woe, 

Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature 5 

That we with wisest sorrow think on him. 
Together with remembrance of ourselves. 
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, 
The imperial jointress of this warlike state. 
Have we, as 't were with a defeated joy, — 10 

With one auspicious and one dropping eye, 
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, 
In equal scale weighing delight and dole, — 
Taken to wife ; nor have we herein barr'd 
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone 15 

With this affair along. For all, our thanks. 
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras, 
Holding a weak supposal of our worth, 
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death 

Scene II. Coleridge calls attention to " the set and pedantically an- 
tithetic form of the sentences " in the first part of the king's speech, — 
"the strain of undignified rhetoric," — and yet " a certain appropriate 
majesty " in what follows. Is his estimate sound ? — 2. that. T/iovgh 
that, ivhile that, lest that, ivhen that, etc., were frequent in the old writers; 
but often the simpler form that alone was used, wlien, as here, the pre- 
ceding word might readily he supplied. Scan this line. — 4. brow of 
Tvoe. In Love's Labor's Lost, V. ii. 734, we have " mourning brow." So 
'' mind of love," in Merchant of Venice =\oYmg mind. IV. vi. 18, 19. — 
8. sometime, as in I. i. 49? —9. jointress = joint possessor? A joint- 
ure was an estate settled on a wife to be in lieu of dower ? Latin jungere, 
to join; jiinctiir a, joining ; English jointress, shortened irom jointuress. 
— ID. defeated = disfeatured, disfigured, marred ? See II. ii. 556. So 
in Othello, I. iii. 337. — 11. auspicious, betokening happiness? — drop- 
pings tear-dropping? or downcash V White substitutes droopinf/ for 
dropping. Wisely ? See Winter's Tale, V. ii. 70, 71. —13. delight' and 
dole, etc. Do these antitheses border on the ludicrous? What is .their 
rhetorical effect? — 14. to = as? Often so in the Bible? Mark xii. 23. 
Tempest, II. i. 75 ; Macbeth, IV. iii. 10. — barr'd, excluded ? thwarted ? 
Henry V., I. ii. 12, 92 ; Cymbeline, I. 1. 82, *'The pangs of barr'd affec- 
tion." — 15. wisdoms. See note on loves, 1. i. ITS. — 17. that = what? 
The relative is often omitted. This may arise from the frequent iden- 
tity of that with the antecedent. Thus, "that, that you know." Abbott, 
244. — 18. Supposal = estimate, opinion, notion? Not used elsewhere 



34 • HAMLET. [act I. 

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, 20 

CoUeagued with the dream of his advantage, 

He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, 

Importing the surrender of those lands 

Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, y 

To our most valiant brother. So much for him. 25 

Now for ourself , and for this time of meeting. 

Thus much the business is : we have here writ 

To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, — 

Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears 

Of this his nephew's purpose, — to suppress 30 

His further gait herein ; in that the levies. 

The lists, and full proportions, are all made 

Out of his subject ; and we here dispatch 

You, good Cornelius, and j^ou, Voltimand, 

For bearers of this greeting to old Norway, 35 

Giving to you no further personal power 

To business with the king more than the scope 

Of these dilated articles allow. 

Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty. 39 

Voltiriand \ "^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ things will we show our duty. 



in Shakespeare. —20. disjoint. For euphony, or because they already 
resembled past participles, many verbs ending in the sound oi t or d 
omit the suffix -ed. So deject^ in Hamlet, III. i. 155 ; hoUt, III. iv. 205, 
etc. Abbott, 342. — 21. Colleagued = allied ? co-leagued? He? or his 
supposal? or what ? No ally but a dream? — 22. He. Is the word he 
needed here ? See John i. 18. — pester = annoy ? — Milton's Comns, 7. — 
Originally to encumber, clog ; from pastormm, a clog for horses 'dt pasture 
(fr. pascere, to feed) . Nothing to do with pest, but allied to pastern. Skeat. 

— 23. Impovting =2nirporting [Meiklejohn] ? importuning [Abbott] ? IV. 
vii. 80 ; V. ii. 21. — 24. with = in accordance with ? — 29. bed-rid. In- 
geniously derived by Earle (Philology) from A. S. bedrian, to bewitch. 

— Skeat prefers to make it from A. S. bed, a bed, and ridda, a knight, 
*' Thus the sense is, a bed-rider, — a sarcastic term for a disabled man." 

— 31. gait = procedure, progress, course ? Skeat says it is from get^ not 
go ; which may remind old soldiers of the expression often heard during 
our civil war, " Get up and get ! " (i. e., go !) — in that = in consideration 
that, inasmuch as? — 32. proportions = contingents, quotas of men 
and means? So in Henry V., I. ii. 137, 304. —33. subject. Collective 
noun ? See I. i. 72. — 35. For = as ? Theobald shrewdly conjectured 
our. — 38. dilated = detailed ? explained at full? — The quartos have 
delated, \Y\i\(ih. Moberly prefers = de/iverecZ. Better? — allow. May or 
shall allow? Or is this, as is often the case in Shakespeare, a ''confu- 
sion of proximit}^; " the verb being, as it were, attracted to the number 
of the noun which is nearer than the grammatical subject? III. iii. 14 ; 
Abbott, 332, 412.-39. commend = show to your credit that you have 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 35 

King, We doubt it nothing ; heartily farewell. — 

\_Exeunt Yoltimand and Cornelius. 
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? 
You told us of some suit ; what is 't, Laertes? 
I You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, 
{And lose your y.oijce ; what wouldst thou beg, Laertes, 45 
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? 
The head is not more native to the heart, 
The hand more instrumental to the mouth, 
Than is the throne of Denmark to th}^ father. 
What wouldst thou have, Laertes ? 

Laertes, Dread my lord, 50 

Your leave and favor to return to France ; 
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, 
To show my duty in your coronation. 
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done. 
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France 55 

And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. 

King, Have you your father's leave? — What says Polo- 
nius ? 

Polonius. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave 
By laborsome petition, and at last 

Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent ; 60 

I do beseech you, give him leave to go. 

King, Take th}^ fair hour, Laertes ; time be thine. 
And thy best graces spend it at thy will ! — 



done? — 41. nothing. Often an adverb in Shakespeare? — Tvjelfth 
Night, II. iii. 93 ; Corioktmis, 1. iii. 97. — Like Latin nihil, and Greek 
fx-qSiv, not Sit all. — 43. suit. Meaning? — 44. the Dane. What Dane ? 
I. i. 15; V. i. 248. — 45. voice. Sense? So prm/ers, line 118? — thou. 
The change from 7/011 to thou is a change in the direction of loving 
familiarity? Abbott, 235. — 47. nativ^e to. Connected hy nature with. 

— 48. instrumental, etc., II. ii. 42. Had Polonius secured the election 
of Claudius to the throne ? Was he bright enough in his dotage for that? 
How was the succession determined ? — 50. Dread my lord. This order 
of words is very common in Shakespeare, my lord being almost a com- 
pound noun, like the French milord, monsieur, and Dutch mynheer. So 
"dear my brother," "sweet my sister," etc. — The quartos have My 
dread Zo?'c?, which many follow. Better? — 53. coronation. Staunton 
says, that in the early sketch Laertes' motive was alleged to be a desire 
to attend the late king's funeral. Why should Shakespeare assign a dif- 
ferent desire? — 56. pardon = indulgence ? forgiveness? permission? 
Latin per, thoroughly ; don are, to give ; donum, gift ; French pcwdonner. 

— 58 to 60, omitted in the folios. Needed? — 60. hard, reluctant? — 
62. take thy fair hour = take an auspicious hour? '"' Carpe diem.'' 
Clark & V/right. — 63. graces, etc. = accomxolishments use the time 



36 HAMLET. [act I. 

But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son, — 

Hamlet. \_Aside] A little more than kin, and less than 
kind. 65 

King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you ? 

Hamlet, Not so, my lord ; I am too much i' the sun. 

Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, 
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. 
Do not forever with thy vailed lids 70 

Seek for thy noble father in the dust. 
Thou know'st 't is common ; all that live must die, 
Passing through nature to eternity. > , 

Hamlet, Ay, madam, it is coEttmon. 

Queen, If it be, 

Why seems it so particular with thee ? 75 

Hamlet, Seems, madam ! nay, it is ; I know not ' seems.' 
'T is not alone my inky cloak, good mother, 
Nor customary suits of solemn black, 
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, 

No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, ' 80 

Nor the dejected havior of the visage, 

as thou pleasest. Graces personified here ? — 64. Cousin. See cozened, 
III. iv. 77. Uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, brother-in-law, and grandchild 
were included, as well as cousins proper. — Latin com, together, with; 
sobriniis, for sos-brimis, own cousin by the mother's side; from soro7\ for 
sos-oi\ sister. 65. more than kin, uncle and father ? nephew and step- 
son? or — ? — less than kind. Because he is no friend? or does kind 
mean natural? less than kind = unnatural? or, as Johnson supposed, does 
kind (as German word) mean child ^ V ^^ marrying my mother you have 
made yourself something more than my kinsman, and at the same time 
have shown yourself unworthy of our race, our kind." White. — The 
original sense is **born;" A. S. cynde, natural, native, inborn. Skeat. 
See Furness. — 67. in the sun. Antithesis to the king's clouds? Pun- 
ning play on the word sun? or does in the sun mean *' out of house and 
home " ? or in the sunshine and gayety of the court ? or basking in idle- 
ness? or something else? An old proverb runs, '* Out of God's blessing 
into the warm sun ! " — 68. nighted. The folios have nightly. Equally 
good word? — ^56o^^, 294. — Scarlet was the color then worn by kings, 
queens, and royal princes in Denmark. — 69. Denmark = the state? or 
the king? I. i. 61. — 70. vailed, lowered, downcast ? See vailing — let- 
ting fall, in Merchant of Venice, I. i. 28. French aval, downward; Latin 
ad, to, toward, valient, the valley; opposite of ad montem, toward the 
hill. Meaning traceable in avalanche? — 72. live. The quartos and 
first folio read lives. Better ? — 73. nature = human life V or — ? — 74. 
it is common. What is ? frailty like his mother's ? or death? or — ? 
Coleridge comments on Hamlet's delicacy to his mother, liis reticence 
in lines 65 and 74, followed by an overflow of beautiful and suggestive 
characteristic thoughts, and his respectful answer to his mother con- 
trasting with his silence to the long speech of the king. Verify or 
disprove. — 77. inky, spoken of broivs in As Yon Like It, III. v. 46. — 
79. suspiration (Latin suspiratus, sighing). Nowhere else in Shake- 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 37 

Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief, 

That can denote me truly ; these indeed seem, 

For they are actions that a man might play : 
/ But I have that within which passeth show ; " 85 

I These but the trappings and the suits of woe. 

King. 'T is sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, 

To give these mourning duties to your father : 

But, you must know, your father lost a father ; 

That father lost, lost his ; and the survivor bound 90 

In filial obligation for some term 

To do obsequious sorrow : but to perse ver 

In obstinate condolement is a course 

Of impious stubbornness ; 't is unmanly grief ; 

It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, 95 

A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, v 
^n understanding simple and unschooTdj) 

For what we know must be and is as common 

As any the most vulgar thing to sense, 

speare. — 80. fruitful. Meaning?— 81. havior occurs seven times 
in Shakespeare? Many prefixes are dropped by liim. Ahhott,^i^O. — 
82. modes in the folios and one quarto; moocles in the other quartos. 
Which is better? — 83. denote = characterize ? describe? indicate? 
mark? or—? Scan. — 85. passeth. Better than passes ?— 86. woe. 
What of rhymes in the earlier plays of Shakespeare? in the middle? 
the later ? — 87. Scan thus : 

— 89, etc. Lowell says, "In the Electra of Sophocles, which is almost 
identical in its leading motive with Hamlet, the Chorus consoles Electra 
for the supposed death of Orestes, in the same commonplace way which 
Hamlet's uncle tries with him. 

®vr)rov 7re'<|)v/ca9 Trarpo? 'HXe/crpa, <j)p6u€L * 
&vr)TO<; 5' 'Gpe'cTTT;? * loare fxr] Kiav oreve, 
Hdciv yap r//u.ti/ tout' 6(/)eiAeTa(, TraOelv, 

"Your father lost a father; 
That father lost, lost his. ... 
. . . But to persever 
In obstinate condolement is a course 
Of impious stubbornness. . . . 
. . . 'Tis common : all that live must die." 

— Lowell's Among My Books, I. p. 191. 

— See Tennyson's In Memoriam, vi. — 90. bound. Supply what word be- 
fore hound ? It is, there is, is,ivas, etc., are often omitted in Shakespeare. 

— 92. obsequious = pertaining to obsequies, funereal? So obsequiously, 
Bichard III., I. ii. 3. Latin obsequion, " followings," funeral rites ; ob, 
near; sequi, to follow. — persever. Accent and spelling in Shake- 
speare? 492.-93. condolement, grief. The Latinized, artificial, and 
rather pompous diction of the king throughout the play, indicates self- 
consciousness and guilt? — 95. incorrect, contumacious? unsubmis- 
sive? unsubdued? or incorrigible? — 97. simple = foolish ? silly? or 
stupid ? which ? Latin sim-, as in sem-el, one, once; andp/ex, fold^ from 
plicdre, to fold ; opposed to du-plex, twofold. By what depravity came the 



38 HAMLET. [act I. 

Why should we in our peevish opposition lOO 

Take it to heart? Fie ! 't is a fault to heaven, 

A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, 

To reason most absurd ; whose common theme 

Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, 

From the first corse till he that died to-day, 105 

' This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth 

This unpre vailing woe, and think of us 

As of a father ; for let the world take note, 

You are the most immediate to our throne. 

And with no less nobility of love ilO 

Than that which dearest father bears his son 

Do I impart toward you. For j^our intent 

In going back to school in Wittenberg, 

It is most retrograde to our desire ; 

And we beseech you, bend you to remain 115 

Here, in the cheer and comfort of our ej^e. 

Our chief est courtier, cousin, and our son. 

Queen, Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet : 
I pray thee, staj^ with us ; go not to Wittenberg. 

Hamlet, I shall in all my best obey you, madam. 120 

King, Why, 't is a loving and a fair reply ; 
Be as ourself in Denmark. — Madam, come ; 
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet 
Sits smiling to my heart : in grace whereof, 

meaning foolish from simple, guileless [Trench] ? — 99. any the most. 

So one tlie wisest, Henry VIII., II. iv. 48 ; amj the rarest, Ci/mbeline, 1. iv. 
56. Abbott, 419 a. —to sense = addressed to sense, offering itself to obser- 
vation [Caldecott]? follows vu I f/ar? vuk/ar to sev se = conimonly perceived? 
— 104. who. Shakespeare uses ivho in personifying irrational antece- 
dents ? Abbott, 264. — still. I. i. 122.— 105. till he. Till a preposition? 
/incorrect? Tillis often used for to in old writers. — 107. unprevail- 
lng = unavailing [Malone] ? Prevail is used for avail in Borneo and 
Juliet, III. iii. 60. — 109. immediate = near in blood? If the crown was 
elective, what weight would consanguinity have? what the voice of the 
king? — 110. nobility = greatness ? generosity ? eminence and distinc- 
tion ? dignit3' ? — 112. impart — what? love ? nobility of love? myself? 
Is here a " confusion of construction " ? Abbott, 415. — For = ^s for ? — 
Abbott, 149. — 113. Wittenberg University was founded in 1502. Anach- 
ronism here? — school = university in As Yon Like It, I. i. 6 ? About 
what date may we suppose these "scenes to have occurred? At what 
age might Hamlet go to school ? Why to Wittenberg, rather tlian to 
Paris like Laertes ? — 114. retrograde. Astrological term? Contrary? 
Affected speech?— 115. bend you == incline ? be inclined? Note that 
the king uses the less colloquial, less affectionate yon. — 118. lose. See 
line 45. — 119. Scan. Abbott {Shakes. Gram. § 469) insists that polysyl- 
labic names often receive but one accent at the end of the line. — 120, 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 39 

No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day, 125 

But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, 
And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again, 
Respeaking earthly thunder. — Come away. 

\_Exeunt all hut Hamlet. 
Hamlet, O that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 
Tliaw, and resolve itself into a dew ! 130 

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 
His canon 'gainst self -slaughter ! O God ! O God ! 
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable 
Seem to me all the uses of this world I 

Fie on 't ! O fie ! 't is an un weeded garden 135 

That grows to seed ; things rank and gross in nature 
Possess it merely. That it should come to this ! 
But two months dead ! nay, not so much, not two : 
So excellent a king ; that was, to this, 

H3^perion to a satyr ; so loving to my mother 140 

That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 

shall . . . obey. Does he ?— 124. sits to my heart ? or smiling to my 
heart ? — grace = honor ? In grace iohereof\ lo grace or honor which ? — 
125. Denmark. King? or nation ? "The king's intemperance," says 
Johnson, " is very strongly impressed ; every thing that happens to him 
gives him occasion to drink." — 127. rouse (Danish r6s, noise ; Swedish 
ruSf drunkenness ; Dutch ?-oes, tipsiness), bumper? drinking bout? ca- 
rousal ? deep draught? — " Its signification," says White, '•' is preserved 
in 'rouser ' and ' rousing.' " But — ? — bruit, report loudly or noisil3^ 
Akin to broil (tumult) ? — 129. too, too. Emphatic repetition not uncom- 
mon in Shakespeare. See Merchant of Venice, II. vi. 42. Compound 
word ? Similar reduplications were iiot uncommon : one occurs in 
Shakespeare's 110th sonnet. '* The base affinities of our nature are ever 
present to Hamlet's mind. Here he thinks of the body as hiding from 
us the freshness, life, and nobleness of God's creation." Moberhj. — 130. 
resolve = dissolve ? So sometimes Latin resolvere, dissolvere. Three 
synonymes here used for emphasis? — 132. canon = ecclesiastical law ? 
divine decree ? In all the folios, and most of the quartos, it is spelled 
cannon, and Mr. Hunter fears " that the noise of ' cannon ' in the king's 
speech w^as still ringing in the poet's ears ! " — Where is to be found 
this divine law? sixth commandment? natural religion? Cymbeline, 
III. iv. 75-77. — 134. uses = usages, customs? — 136. rank. A. S., rarzc, 
strong ; proud, forward. The sense ' rancid,' or ' strong-scented,' is due 
to confusion with Latin ?'a?ic?d?/s, rancid. — 137. merely = completely ? 
absolutely? Latin were, without mixture, wiiolly. — 140. Hyperion 
(vn-ep L(xiv, hit per ion, he that goes on high ? father of Helius, the sun, but 
often identified with Apollo?) the sun-god, god of poetr^^, music, arch- 
ery, etc., embodiment of manly beauty. See III. iv. 55, 56. — to = 
compared to. So I. v. 52 ; III. i. 52. — Satyr (pronounce sa'-tur ?) a las- 
civious syh^an deity, in form part man and part goat. He usually had 
bristlj^ hair, round and somewhat upturned nose, ears pointed at top, 
two small horns on the top of his forehead, and a tail like that of a 
horse or goat. — 141. might = could ? — beteem, permit. In Midsim^ 



40 HAMLET. [act I. 

Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth ! 

Must I remember? why, she would hang on him, 

As if increase of appetite had grown 

B}^ what it fed on ; and yet, within a month — ^ 145 

Let me not think on 't— ^Frailty, thy name is woman ! -^ 

A little month, or ere those shoes were old 

With which she follow'd my poor father's body. 

Like Niobe, all tears, — why she, even she — 

O God ! a beast, that wants discourse of xeason_i 150 

Would have mourn'd longer — married with my uncle, 

jNIy father's brother, but no more like my father 

Than I to Hercules. Within a month? 

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears 

Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, 155 

She married. O most wicked speed, to post 

With such dexterity to incestuous sheets ! 

It is not, nor it cannot come to good ; — 

But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue. 

mer Nighfs Dream, the word appears to have the sense of woin* ont. 
According to Skeat, teem once meant to think fit ; akin to A.' S. snffix 
'teme, -tyme, with the notion of fitting, suitable ; related to tame, domes- 
ticated, rendered suitable ; German ziemen, to befit ; root darn, to 
tame, subdue. — 142. Visit. After what words is to omitted before 
present infinitives? Abbott, S^d. — 146. Frailty, etc. One of Shake- 
speare's famous proverbs ; like Virgil's Varium et mutabile semper 
fcBmina ! — 147. or ere. "It is probable that or ere arose as a redui^li- 
cated expression, in which ere repeats and explains or ; later this was 
confused with e'e?* ,' whence or ever." Skeat. This or. then, is sl doub- 
let of ere? See I. ii. 183 ; Tempest, I. ii. 11. ; Abbott, 131. — 149. Niobe. 
Daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion king of Thebes, sister of 
Pelops, proud of her seven sons and seven daughters, she gave offence 
to Latona, mother of Apollo and Diana. These two with arrows slew 
her children. Zeus transformed her into a rock in Lydia. This rock 
during the summer always sheds tears ! Is the allusion felicitous, or the 
reverse ? — 150. discourse (Latin dis, apart, in different directions ; 
ciirsus, running ; discursus, a running of lines of thought in different 
directions?) of reason = the inferring power of reason [Moberlj^] ? 
"Reason is but choosing," says Milton, discourse of reason = the 
power of looking this way and that, and at length choosing [Meikle- 
john] ? See IV. iv. 36. — 153. I to Hercules. Was Hamlet large ? 
slender ? See V. ii. 275. '* The sign of the Globe (Shakespeare's) The- 
atre was Hercules carrying the round earth." See II. ii. 353. — 155. 
left = left off, ceased from ? Often used so in Shakespeare. See III. 
iv. 34. — flushing. Flush — (1) to blush, redden ; (2) to fill with water. 
Left the flushing = (3) " ceased to produce redness " ? or, " had had time 
to produce redness "? or — ? — galled, sore (with weeping)? So in 
Richard III., IV. iv. 53. — 157. dexterity = adrqitness ? nimbleness ? 
celerity? Would " celerity " involve pleonasm ? — 158. nor it cannot. 
Double negatives in English, before the time of Milton, had what effect 
on the negation ? Abbott, 406. — 159. break. Subjunctive used opta- 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 41 

Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo. 

Horatio, Hail to your lordship ! 

Hamlet, I am glad to see you well : 160 

Horatio, — or I do forget myself. 

Horatio, The same, my lord, and your poor servant 
ever. 

Hamlet, Sir, my good friend ; I '11 change that name with 
you : 
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio ? — 
Marcellus ? 

Marcellus, My good lord — 165 

Hamlet, I am very glad to see you. — \_To Bernardo, ~\ 
Good even, sir. — 
But what, in faith, make 3^ou from Wittenberg? 

Horatio, A truant disposition, good my lord. 

Hamlet, I would not have your enemy say so, 170 

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, 
To make it truster of your own report 
Against yourself ; I know you are no truant. 
But what is your affair in Elsinore ? 
We '11 teach 3^ou to drink deep ere you depart. 175 

Horatio, INIy lord, I came to see your father's funeral. 

Hamlet, I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student ; 
I think it was to see my mother's wedding. 

Horatio, Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon. 

Hamlet, n?hrift, thrift, Horatio ! the funeral bak'd-meats 
Did coldly lurnish forth the marriage tables. , 181 

tively ? or third person imperative ? or second person imperative ? Is 
heart a vocative ? or subject nominative ? — must hold. Does he ? till 
his heart breaks ? — 163. I'll change that name = I'll be j'our servant; 
you shall be my friend [Johnson] ? I'll exchange the name of friend 
with you ; we'll not talk of servants? — 164. what make you? Ger- 
T[id^\\,Was machen Sief (What are you doing? how do you do?) "I 
suspect we should read makes with an ellipsis of he." Keightley. — 
II. ii. 266. As You Like It, I. i. 26. — 167. even. See I. i. 174. It may 
have been past noon? In Shakespeare's time, as in some portions of the 
South to-day, " Good-evening " is a common salutation after midday. — 
170. have. "^ The quartos have hear. Better? — 171. that = such ?'^ So 
in I. V. 48. Abbott, 277. — 177. pray thee. Better than prithee, because 
more deliberate and more earnest [Corson] ? — 179. upon. Adverb ? 
preposition ? — 180. Thrift = economy ? frugality ? — " What a blast of 
sarcasm whistles through the consonants of this word ! " Coleridr/e. 
Really so? — baked-meats. Gen. xl. 17. "Old custom to furnish 
a cold entertainment for the mourners." Rolfe. '^ Customary, as it 
still is in Scotland, to have a great feast at a funeral." Meiklejohn. — 
See Scott's Ivanhoe (funeral of Athelstane), also his Bride of iammer^ 



42 HAMLET. [act I. 

VWoulcl I had met my dearest foe in heaven 
Or ever I had seen that day, HoratioJ' 
My father ! — methinks I see my father. 

Horatio, O where, my lord? 

Hamlet, f In my mmd's e3^ej Horatio. 185 

Horatio. I saw him once ; he was a goodly King. 

Hamlet, He was a man, take him for all in all, 
I shall not look upon his like again. 

Horatio, My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. 

Hamlet, Saw? who? 190 

Horatio, My lord, the king your father. 

Hamlet, The king my father ! 

Horatio, Season j^our admiration for a while 
With an attent ear, till I may deliver, 
Upon the witness of these gentlemen, 
This marvel to you. 

Hamlet, For God's love, let me hear. 195 

Horatio, Two nights together had these gentlemen 
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch. 
In the dead vast and middle of the night, 
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, 
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe, 200 

moo7\ See Fiirness, — 182. met. In III. iii. 73, etc., we see how un- 
willing he would be to meet his foe in heaven. — dearest. A.S , deerej 
clyie, dear, beloved. ^^ Dearest was applied to any person or thing that 
excited the liveliest interest, whether love or hate." Hudson. Is it = 
most heart-touching ? A.S. derian, to hurt ; Gael, dur^ hard, whence 
Stormonth derives this word. — 183. or ever. See line 147. The 
folios have Ere I had ever, which many of the best editors adopt. Which 
is preferable ? — 185. mind's eye. So in 7?ape of Lncrece, 1426 ; Chau- 
cer's Man of Lawes Tale, line 497, has "with even of his mynde." See 
Much Ado About Nothinr/, IV. i. 227. A similar expression" is found in 
Greek. — 186. goodly = good-looking ? Milton says, " Adam, the good- 
liest man." — 187. a inan = a true man? i:)ronounced with falling slide 
and emphasis on man? Or does it mean, '' He was a man " such that 
** I shall not look," etc. ? — 188. I shall. It has been suggested that/ 
should be Eye ! Would the meaning be bettered by this change ? — 190. 
who? Wlto is often used for vjhom in Shakespeare. Abbott, 274. —192. 
Season = temper, qualify, control V I. iii. 81 ; II. i. 28 ; III. ii. 192. So 
Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 188. —admiration = Latin admiratio, wonder, 
amazement? — 193. attent. Twice found in Shakespeare. — deliver. 
See line 209; V. ii. 374. Latin deliberare, to set free; de, from; liber, free. 
As if the thought were locked up or imprisoned until set free in speech ? 
_ Tempest, V. i. 313. — 194. witness. Is this still used for testiinony ? 
— 195. God's. The folios have Heauens : in obedience to the statute 3 
James I., forbidding the utterance of the sacred name on the stage ? — 
198. vast and ivaste are two forms of the same word ? Tempest, T. ii. 327. 
Latin vastus, empty, void, waste, desolate. — dead. Used with dark- 
ness, night, and midnight. — 200. at point (Lat. punctam^ point; Italiaiij 



SCEXE II.] HAMLET, 43 

Appears before them, and with solemn march 

Goes slow and stately by them : thrice he walk'd 

By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes, 

Within his truncheon's length ; whilst they, distill'd 

Almost to jelly with the act of fear, 205 

Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me 

In dreadful secrecy impart they did ; 

And I with them the third night kept the watch : 

Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time. 

Form of the thing, each word made true and good, 210 

The apparition comes. I knew your father ; 

These hands are not more like. 

Hamlet, But where was this ? 

Marcellus, My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd. 

Hamlet, Did j^ou not speak to it? 

Horatio, My lord, I did ; 

But answer made it none : yet once methought 215 

It lifted up it head, and did address 
Itself to motion, like as it would speak ; 
But even then the morning cock crew loud, 
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away, 
And vanish 'd from our sio:ht. 



inpiinto, in readiness; appiinto, exactly), completely. The folios read at 
all points, — cap-a-pe = French, cap-a-pied, head to foot. — 201. Force 
of the present tense ? — 202. thrice in the folios is joined with the pre- 
ceding; thus : *' By them thrice he," etc. Which is preferable ? — 204. 
truncheon = cudgel, short staff? marshal's baton ; partisan, as in I. i, 
140? Latin, tnoicvs, trunk, stock, stem ; French, tron(;on ; Old French, 
tronchon, diminutive of tronc. — distill'd. Many have been the con- 
jectures and emendations proposed in regard to this word. Hudson saj^s, 
" To distil is to fall in drops to melt; so that distilVd is a very natural 
and fit expression for the cold sweat caused by intense fear." The folio 
has bestiVd, which Corson prefers, meaning made still. Judge. — 205. 
jelly. Because it trembles and quivers ? — act = action, operation ? — 
with = by ? — 207. dreadful = filled with dread ? or causing dread ? — 
impart they did. Better order than they did impart ? Effect of the 
inversion ?— 212. like what? — 216. it. ''Its is found," says Abbott 
(§ 228), *' in Measiire for Measure, I. ii. 4, where it is emphatic; in Win- 
ter's Tale, I. ii. 151, 152, 2(56; Henry VIIL, I. i. 18; Lear, IV. ii. 32, and 
elsewhere." See his in I. i. 37. Its is not found in King James's Version 
of the Bible (1611) ; but modern editions have substituted its for it in 
Lev. XXV. 5. The A.S. personal pronoun of third person had nomina- 
tive masculine he, feminine /^eo (whence she), neuter hit ; genitive (pos- 
sessive) masculine his, feminine hire (whence her), neuter his. The 
Elizabethan authors generally avoid its. — 217. like as. " As appears to 
be (though it is not) used for as if.'' Abbott, 107. The (/" is implied in the 
subjunctive ? — 219. shrunk. What was the suiDerstition about ghosts 



44 HAMLET. [act I. 

Hamlet, 'T is very strange. 220 

Horatio, As I do live, my honour'd lord, 't is true ; 

And we did think it writ down in our duty 

To let you know of it. 

Hamlet, Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. 

Hold you the watch to-night ? 

Marcellus, ) ^t- i i j 

Bernardo.] We do, my lord. 225 

Hamlet, Arm'd, say you? 

Marcellus, ) * > i ^ ^ 

-D 7 > Arm d, my lord. 

Bernardo, J ' -^ 

Hamlet, From top to toe ? 

BerltlZ'. } *^y **^''*^^' f''^™ ^^^^^ ^° ^^^*- 

Hamlet, Then saw j^ou not his face ? 

Horatio, O, yes, my lord ; he wore his beaver up. 230 

Hamlet, What, look'd he frowningly? 
Horatio, A countenance more in sorrow than in anger. 
Hamlet. Pale ; or red ? 
Horatio. Nay, very pale. 

Hamlet, And fix'd his eyes upon you? 

Horatio, Most constantly. 

Hamlet, I w^ould I had been there. 23.5 

Horatio. It would have much amaz'd you. 
Hamlet, Very like, very like. Stay'd it long? 
Horatio. While one with moderate haste might tell a 
hundred. 



Marcellus, ] ^ , 

Bernardo. \ ^^^S^''' ^^"g^''- 



Horatio, Not when I saw 't. 
Hamlet, His beard was grizzled ? no ? 240 

Horatio, It was, as I have seen it in his life, 
A sable silver' d. 

and evil spirits fleeing at dawn ? 1. 1. 161. — 222. writ. InBj^ron's Childe 
Harold we have, '' V^liat is writ, is writ." See I. ii. 27; Mcetzner, I. 368 ; 
^56o«,343.— 226. Arm'd. Ghost? or observers? — 230. beaver = lower 
front part of a helmet. French, baviere, primaril}^ a child's bib, . . . 
"The lower part of the helmet was named from a fancied resemblance to 
a child's bib. The derivation from Italian bevere, to drink [Latin bibere], 
is quite unfounded." Skeat. See Stormonth, and Webster's Unabridf/ed. 
— 233. Pale. " The word should be uttered with a falling inflection, and 
then ' or red' added, after a pause, with a certain anxious impatience." 
Corson. Correct? — 237. like. II. ii. 341. Provincial use ? — 237. tell. 
So we say, " all told,'' meaning all counted ; " tell one's beads ; " a " teller 
in a bank." — 240. grizzled = gray, mixed white and black ? or foul and 



SCENE III. J HAMLET. 45 

Hamlet. I '11 watch to-night ; 

Perchance 't will walk again. 

Horatio. I warrant it will. 

Hamlet. If it assume my noble father's person, 
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape 245 

And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, 
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, 
Let it be tenable in your silence still ; 
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night. 

Give it an understanding, but no tongue : 250 

I will requite your loves. So, fare you well ; 
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve, 
I'll visit you. 

All. Our duty to your honor. 

Hamlet. Your loves, as mine to you ; farewell. — 

[_Exeiint all hut Hamlet. 
My father's spirit in arms^! all is not well ; 255 

I doubt some foul play : would the night were come I 
Till then sit still, my soul ; foul deeds will rise. 
Though all the earth o'er whelm them, to men's eyes. 



Scene III. A Room in Polonius's House. 

Enter Laertes and Ophelia. 

Laertes. My necessaries are embark' d ; farewell : 
And, sister, as the winds give benefit 

disordered [Moberly] ? — no ? Corson, — who would follow the first folio, 
and read, His heard was grisly ? No, — says, " ' No ' should be read with 
a strong downward inflection," as though Hamlet in this searching ex- 
amination had caught them on this ])oint. It is plausibly argued that 
this " No " should be spoken by Horatio, not Hamlet. Which is better ? 

— 242. I '11 watch. " I '11 is strongly emi^hatic." Corson. — 243. war- 
rant. Monosyllable ? Does Shakespeare ever put three sj'llables into 
one poetic foot ? See I. i. 161. Abbott, 467. Spelled ivarnH in the quartos. 

— 245. gape = yawn ? or roar, howl ? — 248. tenable = " holdable " ? 
held ? retained ? The folios read treble or trebble, and plausible argu- 
ments are assigned for retaining treble. See Furness, and judge. — 251. 
loves. See I. i. 173. — 254. loves. Don't say duty ; say loves I How 
graceful this courtesy! He'll ''change that word" with them! — 
256. doubt = suspect ? Often so in Shakespeare. — 258. to men's 
eyes. Corson inclines to connect this phrase with o'erivhelms rather 
than rise. Judiciously ? — What progress in the i)lot in scene ii. ? Its 
aramatic vahie ? 

Scene III. — 2. as. "Here a modern reader would at first natu- 
rally suppose * as ' to mean since or because ; but the context shows it 



46 HAMLET. [act I. 

And convoy is assistant, do not sleep, 
But let me hear from you. 

Ophelia, Do you doubt that? 

Laertes, For Hamlet and the trifling of his favor, 5 

Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, ^ 

A violet in the youth ofjjrimy nature, 
Forward, not permanent, sweet, notlasting. 
The perfume and suppliance of a minute ; 
No more. 

Ophelia, No more but so ? 

Laertes, Think it no more ; 10 

For nature crescent does not grow alone 
In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes. 
The inward service of the mind and soul 
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves j^ou now, 
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch 15 

means ' according «6' ' " [Abbott, 109]? — 3. convoy is assistant = con- 
veyance is at hand? Old French conveicr, convolei\ to convey, bring 
on the way; Latin con, together, via, way. French assister, assist; 
Li3Liin ad-sistere, to stand by.— 4. But let = without letting? — 5. For 
= as for? I. ii. 112; I. v. 139. —6. fashion = matter of form? 'That which " 
good breeding requires [Schmidt] ? or that which is changeable and tem- 
porary [Clark & Wright] ? See lines 111 and 116 of this scene, — toy = 
caprice [Rolfe, Furness, etc.]? a pastime and fancy [Clark & Wright] ? 
— blood = passions, as in III. ii. 64 [Caldecott] V disposition, inclina- 
tion, temperament, impulse [Dyce]? ''a high state of health and good 
spirits " [Meiklejohn] ? — 7. youth. Is Hamlet quite young ? — primy 
= vernal, of the spring-tirde ? " Shakespeare twice uses prime for 
spring.'' Meiklejohn. — 9. suppliance, etc. = " what supplies, or tills up, 
a minute" [Steevens] ? '*an amusement to fill up a vacant moment" 
[Mason] ? " gratification, pastime " [Schmidt] ? Not found elsewhere in . 
Shakespeare. — 10. No more but so? All the early editions have a 
period after so. Corson says, " This speech is certainl}^ meant to express 
Ophelia's submissiveness to her brother's opinion, not to question the 
correctness /)f it." Says Lowell, "The range between the piteous 'No 
more but so""? ' in w^hich Ophelia compresses the heart-break whose com- 
pression was to make her mad, and that sublime appeal of Lear to the 
elements of Nature, only to be matched, if matched at all, in the ' Prome- 
theus,' is a wide one; and Shakespeare is as truly simple in the one as in 
the other." Lowell's Among My Books, i. pp. 182, 183. — 11. crescent. 
Latin crescens, growing, — 12. thews = muscular powers ? Used three' 
times by Shakespeare. — From Teutonic base thn, to be strong, to swell. 
Compare Sanscrit tu, to be strong, to increase. The sense of bulk, 
strength, comes straight from the root. Thigh is from the same root. 
Skeat —12. temple. John ii. 19, 21; 3Iatt. xxvi. 61; 7 Cor. iii. 16, 17, vi. 
19. It is remarked by Caldecott, that the word " tem]^le " is applied to the 
body on grave occasions only ; as Macbeth, II. iii. 49. Moberly quotes from 
Herodotus, III. 134, the almost exact equivalent of the sentence ending 
with loithal in line 14. — 13. service. Suggested by temple .? — 15. cautel 
= craft, deceit [Dyce] ? cunning trick [Stormonth] ? Shakespeare uses 
cauteloiis (^deceitful) in Coriolaniis, IV. i. 33; Julius Cvesar, 11. 1. 129. 



SCENE III.] HAMLET. 47 

The virtue of his will ; but you must fear, 

His greatness weigh' d, his will is not his own ; 

For he himself is subject to his birth. 

He may not, as unvalued persons do. 

Carve for himself, for on his choice depends 20 

The safety and health of this whole state ; 

And therefore must his choice be circumscribed 

Unto the voice and yielding of that body 

Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you, 

It fits your wisdom so far to believe it 25 

As he in his particular act and place 

May give his saying deed ; which is no further 

Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal. 

Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain, 

If with too credent ear you list his songs, 30 

Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open 

To his unmaster'd importunity. 

Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister, 

And keep you in the rear of your affection, 

Out of the shot and danger of desire. 35 

The chariest maid is prodigal enough. 

If she unmask her beauty to the moon. 

Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes ; 

The canker galls the infants of the spring, 

Latin cavere, ccmtiim, to be on one's guard; Mid. 'Lat. can tela, prudence. 
Obsolete? — For a possible trace hereof Shakespeare's legal studies, see 
Furnc.^s. — 16. -will = intentions ?— 17. will. The folios have fear ! — 
18. birth = born rank ? Line IS is not in the quartos. Is it of any use ? 
— 19. unvalvied = low-born, worthless V or invaluable, as in Richard III., 
I. iv. 27? — 20. carve for himself. Another trace, perhaps, of Shake- 
speare's legal reading, as in line 15 Z The book is Swinburn's Treatise 
on Wills (1590). —21. safety. Trisyllable? The folios read sanctity. 
Theobald suggested sanity, and several editors adopt it. Collier says 
thsit safety was often a trisyllable. — health. A.S. hdl, whole. The -th 
denotes condition V — 23. yielding := concession ? permission? — 26. par- 
ticular act and place = the peculiar line of conduct prescril)ed to him 
by his rank [Schmidt] ? special semi-official conduct and position? — 27. 
give his saying deed — verify or fulfil his words by acts? — 28. w^ithaL 
Emphatic form of irith? Abbott, 196; II. ii. 215.— "^30. credent, in Win- 
ter s Tale, I. ii. 142, means credible. Here it means what? — songs. 
Spoken sneeringlyV — 32. unniastered== licentious [Johnson]? unbri- 
dled V " not kept in subjection by the austere virtue of Ophelia" [Sej^- 
mour] ? — 34, 35. Military terms ? Where did Shakespeare learn military 
matters ? — For keep you in, the folios have keep vnthin. Preference? — 
36. chariest = most scrupulous [Dyce] ? or most careful in regard to 
expense? who is far gone in chariness, who is really chary [Moberly] ? 
— A.S. cearuj, full of care; Dutch karif/h, sordid. Wedgicood. Hudson 
reads " The'unchariest maid," etc. Wisely ? — 39. canker worm. So 



48 HAMLET, [act I. 

Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd ; 40 

And in the morn and liquid dew of youth 
Contagious blastments are most imminent. 
Be wary then ; best safety lies in fear : 
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. 

Ophelia, I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, 45 

As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, 
E)o not, as some ungracious pastors do, 
fehow me the steep and thorny way to heaven, 
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, 
Iflimself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 50 

And recks not his own rede. 
' Laertes, O, fear me not. 

I stay too long ; but here my father comes. 

Enter Polonius. 

A double blessing is a double grace ; 

Occasion smiles upon a second leave. 54 

Polonius. Yet here, Laertes ! aboard, aboard, for shame ! 
y The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, 

And you are stay'd for. There ; my blessing with thee ! 

in Midsummer NighVs Dream, II. ii. 3; Milton's Lycidas, line 45. — 
40. buttons = buds? Old Fr. botei^ to push out; honton, what pushes out, 
a bud. Bracket. — 42. blastments = blights ? Not elsewhere used in 
Shakespeare. — 43. safety, etc. The converse is, " Security Is mortals' 
chiefest enemy." Macbeth, III. v. 32, 33.-44. youth, etc. =In the 
absence of any tempter, youth rebels against itself ; i.e., the passions of 
youth revolt from the power of self-restraint ; there is a traitor in the 
camp [Clark and Wright]? — 45. effect = purport ? or result ? — 46. good 
my brother. See I. ii. 50. — 47. ungracious = graceless ? without 
divine grace ? 1 Henry IV., II. iv. 411. — pastors. Note that this plural 
is followed by the singular in line 50. — 49. whiles, ichile, and ichilst 
are used interchangeably in Shakespeare. —puffed = bloated [Calde- 
cott] ? or puffed up with pride, inflated [Moberly]? — 50. primrose. 
" I had thought to have let in some of all professions, that go the prim- 
rose w^ay to the everlasting bonfire." Macbeth, II. iii. 17; so AWs Well 
That, etc., IV. v. 45, 46. — 51. recks, heeds ? — A.S. re'can, to care; akin to 
Gr. iAeyeti', for apeyeiv, arcgevi, to liavc a care, heed. — Cymbeline, IV. ii. 
155. — rede, advice, counsel. A.S. ?'ae'<i, counsel. Burns, in his i?pi6^/e 
to a Young Friend, says, — 

" And may you better reck the rede 
Than ever did the adviser." 

— 51. fear = fear for?— 52. I stay too long. Laertes seems to think 
that . . . for sisters to lecture brothers is an inversion of the natural 
order [Moberly^ ? But is this the reason w^hy Laertes now cuts short the 
interview? — 53, double, etc. Why said? — 56. wind sits. This ex- 
pression, or its equivalent, is frequent in Shakespeare. Merchant of 
Venice, I. i. 18 ; Henry V., II. ii. 12. What is the mental picture ? — 57. 
There. Where ? Does the word accompany the laying of his hand on 



SCENE III.] HAMLET, 49 

And these few precepts in thy memory 
See thou character, v Give thy thoughts no tongue, 
Nor any un proportion 'd thought his act. 60 

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel ; 
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment 
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware 65 

Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, 
Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee, 
"^ive every man thy ear, but few thy voice ; I 
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. 
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 70 

But not expressed in fancy ; rich, not gaudy ; 
For the apparel oft proclaims the man. 
And they in France of the best rank and station 
Are most select and generous, chief in that. 
Neither a borrower nor a lender be ; . 75 

For loan oft loses both itself and friend^ 
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry*. 

Laertes' head ? Corson upholds the folio reading, ** you are stay'd for 
there ; " i.e., at the port where the ship is. Which is preferable ? — 59. 
character = write, engrave? Gr. xapao'o-f"' (charassein), to sharpen, 
engrave. Shakspeare accents either the first or the second syllable. 
Which here? Tendency in English accent? I. i. 86. — The maxims 
that follow are largely from the Euphues of Lyly (John Lyly or Lilly, 
dramatist, from about 1553 to about 1600. Euphues, The Anatomy of 
Wit, published about 1580. What was Euphuism ?) — 60. unpropor- 
tioned = disorderly ? inappropriate ? — his act. The converse of the 
- proposition is implied [Coleridge] ? his- See I. ii. 216. — 61. vulgar = 
the extreme of familiar, or '• free and easy" with everybody [Rolfe] ? 
I. ii. 99. — 62. tried = " having been tried " ? or " hast tried " ? '' Nomi- 
native absolute"? Maetzner, 111. 85. — 63. hoops. Pope substituted 
hooks. Does grapple go well with hoops P Is a grapple with hooks a 
friendly or a hostile act? Are hoops made of steel? "As often as 
hearts are, or as foreheads are of brass ! " saj's Pye. Macbeth^ III. i. 105. 

— 64. dull = dull the sensibility of? make callous [Johnson] ? V. i. 67. 

— 65. comrade. Accent? The quartos read coui-ac/e, which is said to 
be euphuistic for a gallant, — 67. The editions vary between opposed and 
opposev. Which is the better? What is the emphatic word in this line? 

— 69. censure = opinion, judgment? — Lat. censura, opinion; censere, 
to estimate, judge. So in Macbeth, V. iv. 14, and often elsewhere. — 71. 
expressed in fancy = marked or singular in device [Moberly] ? In 
modern slang, " loud" [Rolfe]? — 74. chief in tliat = but chiefly or es- 
pecially so in the matter of dress [Hudson]? The reading is doubtful, 
and the interpretations are many. See Furness. — 77. husbandry = 
economy? So Macbeth, II. i. 4. Husband is ** not a true A. S. word, but 
borrowed from the Scandinavian. Icel. hiisbdndi, the master or ' good- 
man ' of a house . . . Icel. hus, a house ; and buandi, dwelling, inhabiting, 



50 HAMLET, [act I. 

This above all : to thine own self be true, 

And it must follow, as the night the day, 

Thou canst not then be false to any man*j^ 80 

Farewell ; my blessing season this in thee ! 

Laertes, Most humbty do I take my leave, my lord. 

Polonius, The time invites you ; go, your servants tend. 

Laertes. Farewell, Ophelia ; and remember wejl 
What I have said to you. 

Ophelia, 'T is in my memory lock'd, 85 

And you yourself shall keep the key of it. 

Laertes. Farewell. \^Exlt. 

Polonius. What is 't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? 

Ophelia. So please you, something touching the Lord 
Hamlet. 

Polonius. Marry, well bethought : 90 

'T is told me, he hath very oft of late 
Given private time to you, and you yourself 
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous ; 
If it be so — as so 't is put on me, 

And that in way of caution — I must tell j^ou, 95 

You do not understand yourself so clearly 
As it behoves my daughter and your honour. 
What is between you? give me up the truth. 

Ophelia. He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders 
Of his affection to me. lOO 

Polonius. Affection ! pooh ! you speak like a green girl, 
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. 

present participle of hiia, to abide, dwell." Skeat. — 78. This, etc. 
= as you inwardly resolve, so do [Moberly] ? — "Polonius has got one 
great truth among his copy-book maxims." Doivden. Is it a great 
truth ? — 81. season = infix so that it may never wear out [Johnson] ? 
give a relish to it, or keep it alive [CaldecottJ? ingrain [Moberly]? — 
ripen? III. iii. 86; Merchant of Venice, V. i. 107. — 83. tend = wait? 
attend? IV. iii. 44; Teinpest, I. ii. 47. — 85, %Q. Prettily said. Reminding 
oi Macbeth, I. iii. 150, 151, 152? — 90. Marry = By Mary, the Blessed 
Virgin? — bethought = thought of ? — 92. private time = time in pri- 
vate visits [Caldecott] ? time which he had at his own disposal [Delius] ? 
— 93. audience = Lat. a?/c?ien^za, hearing, listening ? — 94. put = urged, 
impressed? put on = toldV represented to? As You Like It, I. ii. 84; 
Twelfth Night, V. i. 61. — 98. Give me up the truth. "Polonius 
generally employs the most formal and official phrases he can find." 
Meiklejohn, Is this comment pertinent ? — 101. green = immature, inex- 
perienced, unsophisticated ? Still so used colloquially ? IV. v. ^. 
*' Greenhorn " ? In King John, III. iv. 145, we read, '' How green you are 
and fresh in this old world! " — 102. Unsifted = untried, untempted [War- 
burton] ? Luke xxii. 31. ** We still speak of sifting a matter." Hudson. 



SCENE III.] HAMLET. 51 

Do you believe his tenders, as you call tliem? 

Ophelia. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. 

Polonius, Marry, I '11 teach you ; think yourself a baby, 105 
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, 
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly ; 
Or — not to crack the wind of the poor phrase — 
Roaming it thus, you '11 tender me a fool. 

Ophelia, My lord, he hath importun'd me with love no 
In honourable fashion. 

Polonius, Ay, fashion you may call it ; go to, go to. 

Ophelia, And hath ^'ven countenance to his speech, my lord. 
With almost all the holy vows of heaven. IM 

Polonius. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know. 
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul 
Lends the tongue vows ; these blazes, daughter, 
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both, 
Even in their promise, as it is a-making. 
You must not take for fire. From this time 120 

Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence ; 
Set your entreatments at a higher rate 

— circumstance. Collective noun? — 103, 106. tenders. Promises? 
Like "greenbacks"? Fr. tendre, to offer to; Lat. teiidere, to extend. 
sterling = genuine ? " The Esterllnc/s were .... the Hanse merchants." 
Skeat. Their money was of the purest. " First applied to the English 
penny, and then to standard current coin in general." Skeat. — 107. 
tender = value ; esteem, regard (with affection)? — 108. crack, etc.= 
ride the poor phrase as a hobby tiU it is wind-broken (i.e., diseased in 
the power of respiration)? — 109. Roaming. The quartos read icronci ; 
the folios, roaming ; some editors read icronginf/ ; more, riinnirif). " The 
folios are probably right. Polonius has reference to his varying appli- 
cation of the word tender.''^ Corson. — tender = offer, present to ? Mei- 
klejohn interprets " tender me a fool" as meaning "make an ass of 
me"! — 110. importuned. Often used in Shakespeare, and accented 
on second syllable. — 111. fashion = w^hat ? — 112. go to. An old phrase 
of varying import, sometimes meaning hush up, sometimes coine on, 
sometimes go ahead. Hudson. — 114. almost . . . holy. These two 
words are not in the folios. Could they be well spared ? — 115. springes 
= snares, as in V. ii. 294? Springe (g like j) is a noose fastened to an 
elastic body, and drawn close by a sudden spring, so as to catch the 
animal whose head is inserted therein ; what the boys call a '* twitch-up ' ' ? 

— woodcocks = simpletons ? Popularly supposed to have no brains ? — 
116. blood = passion ? — prodigal. Shakespeare constantly uses adjec- 
tives as adverbs ? Is this an instance? — 117. vows. This line appar- 
ently lacking a syllable or two, some lengthen voics or daughter to three 
syllables. The strong irony on the word [vows] . . . makes it occupy 
the time of three syllables [Moberly] ? — 119. a-making. A here repre- 
sents on (or old an) ? " There is no purer or more logically correct Eng- 
lish than the idiom a-making.'' White. — 120. fire. Dissyllable, as often 
in Shakespeare ? — 122. entreatments = invitations ? solicitations [Clark 



52 HAMLET, [act I. 

Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet, 
Believe so much in him, that he is young. 
And with a larger tether may he walk 125 

Than may be given you : in few, Ophelia, 
Do not believe his vows ; for they are brokers. 
Not of that dye which their investments show, 
But mere implorators of unholy suits. 

Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds, 130 

The better to beguile. This is for all ; 
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, 
Have you so slander any moment leisure, 
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. 
Look to 't, I charge you ; come your ways. 135 

Ophelia, I shall obey, my lord. [Exeunt, 

Scene IV. Tlie Platform. 

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus. 

Hamlet, The air bites shrewdly ; it is very cold. 
Horatio, It is a nipping and an eager air, 

and Wright] ? company ? conversations [Johnson] ? Not elsewhere in 
Shakespeare. — 125. tether. Felicitous metaphor? So roaming, 109? 
Does he wish to disparage Hamlet? — 126. in few, in brief? Lat. 
paucis (verbis), — 127. brokers = procurers, go-betweens, panders? So, 
often, in Old English. — 128. dye = tinge? real stamp? *' Tlie folios 
have the eye, which means the same." Bolfe. Knight quotes Tempest, II. 
i. 55, to show that eye=3L slight tint. — investments = vesture? dress? 
— 129. implorators = solicitors ? 130. pious bonds = law papers 
headed with religious formulae? So policies of marine insurance begin 
. . . with the words " In the name of God, Amen " [Moberly] ? Says 
Corson, " The general term bonds, suggested, no doubt, by brokers, "is 
used for the more special term voivs." Most of the critics read baiods, the 
conjecture of Theobald (1733). See Furness. — 131. for all. Like *' once 
for all"? — 133. slander = abuse ? disgrace [Johnson]? misuse [Mober- 
ly]? use so as to give rise to slander? — moment = momentary ? So 
read the folios and the earlier quartos; but most critics change motnent 
to momenVsf May the meaning be the same? See Lethe wharf, I. v. 
33. — 135. ways is here a relic of the old genitive ? Importance of Scene 
III.? 

Scene IV. — Coleridge says, "The unimportant conversation with 
which this scene opens is a proof of Shakespeare's minute knowledge of 
human nature. 'It is a well-established fact, that on the brink of any 
serious enterprise or event of moment, men almost invariably endeavor 
to elude the pressure of their own thoughts by turning aside to trivial 
objects aild familiar circumstances." — 1. shrewdly = sharply, keenly ? 
" I would interpret A. S. scredica as ' the biter,' from the Teutonic base 
ski^ti, to cut, tear, preserved in modern English shred. . , . The sense of 
' biter ' or ' scratcher ' will well apph^ to a cross child or scolding 
woman." Skeat, it is. The first and second folios read, is it very cold? 
A plausible reading? — 2. eager. Fr. aigre, Lat. acer, sharp, severe, 



SCENE IV.] HAMLET, 53 

Samlet. What hour now ? 

Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve. 

Hamlet. No, it is struck. 

Horatio. Indeed? I heard it not : it then draws near the 
season 5 

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. 

\_A flourish of trumjjets^ and ordnance shot off within. 
What does this mean, my lord? 

Hamlet. The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse, 
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels ; 
And as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, 10 

The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out 
The triumph of his pledge. 

Horatio. Is it a custom ? 

Hamlet. Ay, marry is 't ; 
But to my mind, though I am native here 
And to the manner bori^, it is a custom 15 

More honor'd in the breach than the observance. 
This heavy-headed revel east and west 
Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations : 
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase 
Soil our addiiton ; and indeed it takes 20 

From our achievements, though performed at height, 

acid. I. V. 69. — hour. Dissyllable. — 6. wont. *' Properly a perfect 
participle of toon, to dwell, to be used to. When the fact that it was a 
participle was forgotten, it came to be used as a substantive." — 8. wake 
= feast late ? or sit up late ? hold a night-feast ? A. S. ivackin, to wake, 
watch; ivacu in niht-ioacu, a night-wake. Skeat. — rouse. I. ii. 127. — 9. 
wassail (A. S. icaes hdel! = he hsde \ Answered, in drinking healths, 
by drinc Ade^ = drink hale !)= a festive occasion, a merry carouse, a drink- 
ing bout ? Macbeth^ I. vii. 64. — up-spring = upstart [Johnson] ? last and 
wildest dance (ffip/a?ir/ = upspring) at a German merry-making [Stee- 
vens and Elze] ? or, collectively, the risers from the table [Keightley] ? 
" ' Reels ' is a verb with ' upspring ' for its object." Eolfe. — 10. Rhen- 
ish = the wine of the district between Bonn and Bingen ? 3fer. of Venice, 
I. ii.83; III. i. 31; //am/ef, V. i. 170. — 12. triumph, etc. = the universal 
acceptance of his pledge [Moberly] ? or the victory consequent upon such 
acceptance [Caldecott] ? or — ? Delius says, ''It is here the bitterest 
irony." — pledge = health drink or pledge ? — 15. manner = custom? any 
pun implied on manor f — 16. honored = honorable ? Abbott, 375. — This 
Une a proverb ? Is he reflecting on the drinking habits of the English ? 
Lines 17-38 omitted in the folios. Can they well be spared? — east 
and west goes with traduced, not revel? — 18. tax'd = censured ? — 19. 
clepe. A. S. cleopian, to call. Macbeth, III. i. 93. Obsolete ? — Yclept, 
how used ? — swinish. " Could Shakespeare have had in his mind any 
pun upon 'Swein,' which was a common name of the kings of Den- 
mark?" Clarkand Wright.— 20. addition = title ? Macbeth,!, iii. 106.— 
21. at height = to the utmost? Is the ''the" absorbed? or omitted? 



54 ^ HAMLET, [act I. 

The pith and marrow of our attribute. 

So, oft it chances in particular men, 

That for some vicious mole of nature in them, 

As, in their birth — wherein they are not guilty, 25 

Since nature cannot choose his origin — 

By the o'ergrowth of some complexion, 

Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason, 

Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens 

The form of plausive manners, that these men, 30 

Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, 

Being nature's livery, or fortune's star, — 

Their virtues else — be they as pure as grace, 

As infinite as man may undergo — 

Shall in the general censure take corruption 35 

From that particular fault : the dram of eale 

Doth all the noble substance of a doubt 

Abbott, 90. See Furness. —22. pith and marrow = main and vital part 
[Moberly] ? most valuable part [Johnson] ? — attribute = reputation ? — 
24. mole of nature ^^^ natural blemish ? — Silberschlag, 1860, thinks that 
King James is Hamlet, and the *' vicious mole " his aversion to a drawn 
dagger ! — 25. As = namely ? or for instance ? See Abbott, 113. — 26. his 
= its? I. ii. 216. — 27. complexion = constitutional texture? aptitude? 
temperament? natural temper ? habit of body? "In the old medical 
language, there were four complexions, or temperaments, — the sanguine, 
melancholy, choleric, and phlegmatic." Clark and Wright. Complex- 
ion, quadrisyllable ? — o'ergrowth = excess ? — 28. pales = palings ? 
Lat. palus, stake. Pole is a doublet. — 30. plausive = gracious ? ap- 
provable ? pleasing? plausible? LtSit. pla^isibilis, Ft. applaudir, to clap 
the hands in approbation. — 32. nature's livery = natural "badge- 
dress''? "distinctive idiom" ? natural defect (like "mole of nature'* 
above) ? — star :^ mark star-shaped ? Theobald suggested scar for star; 
would scar be better V — 33. their virtues. Note the change from these 
men. The quartos have his for their? Is his preferable ? &. undergo 
= " experience, enjoy" [Schmidt]? "endure, support'' [Clark and 
Wright] ? " carry" [Meiklejohn] ? have accumulated upon him [John- 
son]?— 35. censure = opinion, judgment? I. iii. 69. — 36. the dram of 
eale, etc. This passage is generally supposed to be hopelessly corrupt. 
There are about fifty conjectural readings. Two quartos have ease for 
eale. Scholars have suggested base, ill, bale, eel, ale, evil, ail, vile, lead, 
leaven, etc., etc. For of a doubt, it has been proposed to read oft worth 
out, oft eat out, soil with doubt, often daub, oft adopt, oft work out, of 
good out, of worth dout, often doubt, often dout, ever dout, oft adoubt, oft 
debase, over-cloud, of a pound, oft corrupt, oft subdue, of 'em sour, etc., 
etc. William Leighton, jun., in Shakespeariana, February, 1884, makes a 
strong case for often flout, etc. See Furness. Mr. Kinnear in Shake- 
speariana, February, 1885, argues well for * defect.' Dyce alleges that in 
the West of England eale means reproach. The general sense is clear. 
In Shakespeariana, May, 1884, the editor of this edition wrote as follows: 
Professor Scott and Dr. March, in the November issue of Shakespeariana, 
show that eale is eule or evil. A common meaning of doth in Shake- 
speare is doeth or maketh. Of a doubt may mean doubted, or doubtful. 



SCENE IV.] HAMLET. 55 

To bis own scandal. 

Horatio, Look, my lord, it comes ! 

Enter Ghost. 

HamleP, Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! — 
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, 40 

Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, 
Be thy intents wicked or charitable, 
Thou comest in such a questionable shape 
That I will speak to thee ; I '11 call thee Hamlet, 
King, father ! Royal Dane, O, answer me ! 45 

Let me not burst in ignorance ; but tell 
AYhy thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death. 
Have burst their cerements ; why the sepulchre, 
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd, 
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jo^s, 50 

distrusted, as in Hamlet, III. i. 69, ** That makes calamity of so long 
life," means that makes calamity so long-lived [and in V. ii. 377, " rights 
of memory " are probably remembered rights], to his own scandal = to 
the evil's own scandal; i.e., to the disgrace that properly attaches to the 
evil. The word to belongs with doth. The action in doth has a twofold 
effect: it makes the nobleness doubtful, and it subjects the nobleness to 
scandal. . . . Interpret, then, thus: — 

*' The dram of sale [evil] 
Doth [maketh] all the noble substance of a doubt [doubtiul] 
To [reducing or subjecting the nobleness to] Us [its, the evil's] own scandal.'* 

Possibly 0/ a doubt = he(^use of a doubt; in which case we may interpret 
thus: Because of a doubt or distrust, the dram of evil reduceth all the 
nobleness to its own scandal. Abbott, 168, gives examples of of in this 
sense. "My first labor," says Dr. Johnson in speaking of the textual 
difficulties in Shakespeare, " is always to turn the old text on every 
side, and try if there be any interstice through w^hich light can find its 
way." — 39. Angels, etc. *' The idea of surprise predominates over the 
idea of apprehension," Hunter. Correct? — 40. of health = healed, or 
saved? — 42. intents. The folio reads "events," meaning issues, and 
some prefer this reading. Choose ! — 43. questionable = that forces me 
to question thee [Moberly] ? that may be questioned or conversed with ? 
conversable ? inviting conversation [Theobald] ? So doubtful that I will 
at least make inquiry to obtain a solution [Caldecott] ? See Macbeth, 
I. iii.43; .4s You Like It, III. ii. 348.-45. father. "The climax natu- 
rally and beautifully ends with the endearing appellation of ' father.' " 
Pye. How should the line be punctuated ? — 47. canoniz'd == made sa- 
cred ? Accented usually in Shakespeare on second svllable. How 
here ? — hearsed = " coffined" [Rolfe] ? entombed [Clark and Wright] ? 
Merchant of Venice, III. i. 73. — 48. cerements = shroud V cere-cloth in 
Merchant of Venice^ Lat. cera, wax. "So applied from the use of wax 
or pitch in sealing up coffins or caskets to make them water-proof." 
Hudson. — 49. inurn'd. So the folios. The quartos read interred. " The 
change can hardly have been made by any one but the poet himself." 
Clark and Wright. Judicious change?— 50. jaws. Note this tremen- 



66 HAMLET. [act I. 

To cast thee up again. What may this mean, 

That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel 

Revisit' st thus the glimpses of the moon, 

Making; nio-ht hideous • and we fools of nature 

So horridly to shake our disposition 55 

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls ? 

Say, why is this ? wherefore ? what should we do ? 

[Ghost beckons Hamlet. 

Horatio, It beckons j^ou to go away with it. 
As if it some impartment did desire 
To j^ou alone. 

Marcellus, Look, with what courteous action 60 

It waves you to a more removed ground : 
But do not go with it. 

Horatio, No, by no means. 

Hamlet, It will not speak ; then I will follow it. 

Horatio, Do not, my lord. 

Hamlet, Why, what should be the fear? 

I do not set my life at a pin's fee ; 65 

And for my soul, what can it do to that, 
Beino' a thins; immortal as itself? 
It waves me forth again ; I '11 follow it. 

Horatio. What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord. 
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff 70 

That beetles o'er his base into the sea. 
And there assume some other horrible form. 



dous imagery. Personification? • -52, complete. Shakespeare accents 
either syllable. Which here? A.hhott,^92 — steel. Importance is at- 
tached to the fact that the Ghost is armed V Why ? Greater solemnity ? 
Were Danish kings buried in armor? — 53. glimpses = gleams? glim- 
mering light? through clouds? through embrasures ? — we = us, after 
making f May we regard the conjunction and as introducing a new sen- 
tence, supplying are made after we? or is it better to supply that before 
roe, and change to shake into do shake? This random connection of the 
clause suits well with the headlong impetuosity of the speech [Mober- 
ly] ? See Furness. — fools of natu re = natural fools? playthings of na- 
ture?— 55. disposition = constitution? nature? mood? feelings? I. v. 
172; III. i. 12; Macbeth, III. iv. 113. — 56. reaches,I. i. 173; 2 Henry VL, 
I. ii. 46. General meaning, that man's intellectual eye is not strong 
enough to bear the unmufHed light of eternity [Hudson] ? — wherefore. 
Accent here? — 59. impartment. Not elsewhere in Shakespeare.— 
61. waves. The folios read ivafts. Preference ?— 65. fee = value? 
A. S. feoh, fed, cattle, property. Cattle were money ? As Latin pecuniae 
money, from pccns, cattle? See fee, IV. iv. 22. —71. beetles. Middle 
English bitel-hroived, having projecting or sharp brows . . . with biting 
brows . . . browns projecting like an upper jaw. Skeat, ** Thus beetle 



SCENE lY.] HAMLET. 57 

Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason 

And draw you into madness ? think of it ; 

The very place puts toys of desperation, 75 

Without more motive, into every brain 

That looks so many fathoms to the sea 

And hears it roar beneath. 

Hamlet. It waves me still. — 

Go on ; I '11 follow thee. 79 

Marcellus. You shall not go, my lord. 

Hamlet. Hold off your hands ! 

Horatio. Be rul'd ; you shall not go. 

Hamlet. My fate cries out, 

And makes each petty artery in this body 
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve. 
Still am I caird. — Unhand me, gentlemen. 
By heaven, 1 '11 make a ghost of him that lets me ! 85 

I say, away ! — Go on ; I '11 follow thee. 

\_Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet. 

Horatio. He waxes desperate with imagination. 

Marcellus. Let 's follow ; 't is not fit thus to obey him. 

Horatio. Have after. — To what issue will this come? 89 

i¥a?'C6;^Zi^s.\ Something is rotten in the state of Denmark\ 

Horatio. Heaven will direct it. 

Marcellus. Nay, let 's follow him. \_Exeunt. 

means the biting insect" Idem. — 73. deprive = take away [Johnson] ? 
depose [Walker] ? — sovereignty of reason =,(/ore?7zme7i^ of reason 
[Hudson]? sovereign reason [Warburton]? the command of reason [Stee- 
vens]V noble control of reason [Moberly]? sovereignty = your lordship 
or your highness [Gilford] ? your sovereif/nty of recison = the sovereignty 
of your reason, or the command of your reason [RoIfe\ ? For transposi- 
tions of nouns connected by of, see Abbott, 423. " Sovereignty of reason " 
is to be looked upon as one word [Meiklejohn] ? — 74. draw, etc. It was 
believed that evil spirits, assuming the forms of deceased persons, some- 
times drew men to madness or suicide V — 75. toys = freaks, whims, fan- 
cies ? mad impulses? — 76. without, etc. "An allusion to what many 
persons feel when on lofty heights, — a desire of throwing themselves head- 
long.''^ Hunter. Is this true ? — Lines 75-78 omitted in the folios because 
expanded and elaborated in King Lear? — 82. artery = nerve, sinew 
[Hudson]? vein?— 83. Nemean. Accent? Nemea (or Nemee) was a 
valley in Argolis, where Hercules (as his first labor) slew the famous 
lion. I. ii. 153. — nerve = muscle [Meiklejohn] V smew [Schmidt] ? Rolfe 
prefers the latter. — 85. lets. Not A. S- laetan, letan, to allow, but A. S. 
lettan, to hinder; A. S. laet, slow, late. — 89. Have after = let us after? 
V. ii.290. Have = take or hold one's self, proceed promptly. Webster. 
— 90. Something, etc. One of those many Shakespearian saws that 
have become familiar as household words. There are how many in this 
first Act of Hamlet ? — 91. it = the issue ? or what ? Compare this ghost 
with that in Macbeth. 



58 HAMLET. [act Ic 

Scene V. Another Part of the Platform, 
Enter Ghost and Hamlet. 

Hamlet, Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no 
further. 

Ghost. Mark me. 

Hamlet. I will. 

Ghost. My hour is almost come, 

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames 
Must render up myself. 

Hamlet. Alas, poor ghost ! 

Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing 5 

To what I shall unfold. 

Hamlet. Speak ; I am bound to hear.| 

Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. 

Hamlet. What? 

Ghost. I am thy father's spirit, 
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, 10 

And for the day confin'd to fast in fires. 
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature 
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid 
To tell the secrets of my prison-house, 

I could a tale unfold whose lightest word 15 

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, 
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres. 
Thy knotted and combined locks to part. 
And each particular hair to stand an end. 
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine ; .20 

Scene V. — 1. Where ? How far did the Ghost lead him? Tschisch- 
xoitz changes the scene to a wilderness, because Hamlet must have fol- 
lowed the Ghost a long distance, since he refuses to go farther. — In line 162 
of this scene, is the Ghost underground ? What time elapses before Ham- 
let's companions rejoin him ? — 2. hour. What hour of the day? — 6. 
bound = ready ? Does the Ghost imi)ly a different sense in the next 
line? — 7. revenge. What of revenge as a supposed duty in pagan 
times V the Christian idea ? Prayer of Cyrus the Younger, referred to by 
Xenophon in the Anabasis, that he might live till he outdid both his 
friends and his enemies, rendering like for like ! — 11. fast. Chaucer 
(Parson's Tale) says, "The misese of hell shall be in defaute of meat 
and drink." — 13. burnt and purg'd. So in Virgil's ^Eneid, VI. 742, 
and context. A poetic and pagan rather than a Roman-Catholic purga- 
tory [Moberly] V — IG. freeze. Does terror chill ? See ^Eneid, I. 92.— 
18. stand. Does terror have this effect on the hair? See Virgil's re- 
peated line, ^neidf II. 774. — an end = on end ? An is often used for on 
in Shakespeare, as in III. iv. 120. —20. fretf ul = irritable ?— porpen- 



SCENE v.] HAMLET. 59 

But this eternal blazon must not be 

To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list ! 

If thou didst ever thy dear father love — 

Hamlet. God ! 

Ghost. ReA^enge his foul and most unnatural murder. 25 

Hamlet. Murder ! 

Ghost, Murder most foul, as in the best it is ; 
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. 

Hamlet. Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift 
As meditation or the thoughts of love, 30 

May sweep to my revenge. 

Ghost. I find thee apt ; 

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed 
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear : 
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, 35 

A serpent stung me ; so the whole ear of Denmark 
Is by a forged process of my death 
Rankly abus'd ; but know, thou noble youth, 
The serpent that did sting thy father's life 
Now wears his crown. 

tine. JjSit. porciis, pig; spina, thovu. ^^Pork-point was little used, and 
simply meant a ' pork ' or pig furnished with points or sharp quills: . . . 
the modern porciipiiie is due to the Middle English form porkepyn . . . 
three syllables . . . with ?/ long." Skeat. — 21. eternal blazon = pro- 
mulgation of the mysteries of eternity [Caldecott] ? infernal proclama- 
tion [Abbott]? *' A blaze is a white mark on a horse; whence to blaze 
trees is to notch them with an axe, so as to mark the way back." Moberly. 
blazon = revelation ? Rolfe suggests that the Yankee slang word 
*' tarnal," meaning " abominable," is similar to the use of " eternal " in 
the provincial dialects of the east of England. Is it likelj' ? See eterne, 
II. ii. 476. — 30. meditation . . . love. " The two most rapid things in 
nature are here employed,— the ardency of divine and human passion 
in an enthusiast and a lover.' ^ Warburton. He gives to meditation a 
mystic meaning. Note the rapidity of the metrical movement in these 
lines. — 32. shouldst. Should 2lu^ icould wqyq, largely interchangeable 
in Shakespeare's time? Abbott, 322. — fat weed = asphodel, with its 
numerous bulbs thick sown over the meadows of the lower regions ? 
So Tschischwitz, who quotes Lucian introducing asphodel " in connec- 
tion with the Lethean draught." —33. roots. The folios have rots. 
Which gives the better sense? — Lethe. The river of oblivion in the 
lower world. By drinking of it, the spirits obtain forgetfulness of 
the past. — Nouns, especially names of rivers, easily become adjectives ? 
Abbott, 22; Maetzner, III. 158; Hamlet, I. iii. 133. — wharf, where Charon 
moored his boat? river-bank? " Thus the name Antwerp means town 
on the bank, an VWerpen.'' Moberly. — 37. process = Fr. proves verbal? 
official narrative [Clark and ^Yright] ? See Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 
265. — 38. rankly. A.S. rank, strong; Old Eng. rank, coarse in growth; 
Old Fr. ranee, musty. I. ii. 136. —39. serpent . . . sting, etc. Note 



60 HAMLET. [act L 

Hamlet. O my prophetic soul ! 40 

My uncle ! 

Ghost, Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast. 
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, — 
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power 
So to seduce ! — won to his shameful lust 45 

The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen ; 

Hamlet, what a falling-off was there ! 
From me, whose love was of that dignity 
That it went hand in hand even with the vow 

1 made to her in marriage, and to decline 50 
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor 

To those of mine ! 

But virtue, as it never will be mov'd. 

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, 

So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd, 55 

Will sate itself in a celestial bed, 

And prey on garbage. 

jBut, soft ! methinks I scent the morning air ; I 
' Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard, » 

My custom alwaj^s in the afternoon, • 60 

Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole. 

With juice of cursed he]3enon in a vial. 

And in the porches of my ears did pour 

The leperous distilment ; whose effect 

Holds such an enmity with blood of man 65 

That swift as quicksilver it courses through 

the hissing, stinging intensity of this line. —40. prophetic soul. I. 

ii. 255-258. "Hamlet's 'prophetic soul,'" says Lowell, **may be 
matched with the irpotxavTKi evtx6<;, promantis thumos, of Peleus {Eurip, ' 
Ajidrom.lQlb).'' —^2. adulterate occurs oftener in Shakespeare than 
adulterous. So emi^Za^e in I. i. 83. Abbott, o\2. — 47. seeming-virtuous. 
Note how i^lastic the language was to allow such compounds ! Abbott, 
2.-48. that = such, as in I. ii. 171? Abbott, 211.— bO. decline = turn 
aside [Clark and Wright] ? sink down [Rolfe] ? So Tennyson's Locksley 
Hall, line 43.-^52. to, as in I. ii. 140? III. i. 52; Teinpest, I. ii. 480.— 
those of mine. Accurate constru(;tion ? — 53. virtue. Noun abso- 
lute? pleonastic construction? Abbott, 417. — 58. sof t = hold, stop? 
III. i. 88. See Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 311, and I. iii. 52.-60. in. 
The quartos have o/. Preferable ? — 61. secure. Lat. se, free from; 
cura, care. — 62. hebenon = henbane, the oil of which, according to 
Pliny, dropped into the ear, disturbs the brain [Hudson] ? by meta- 
thesis for henebon, henbane {hyoscydmus iiiger) [Grey]? — 63. ears. It 
was a belief, even among medical men in that day, that poison might 
be thus introduced [Caldecott] ? So Francis II. (died in 1560) was sup- 
posed to have been poisoned by his surgeon, Ambroise Pare, " the father 
of French surgery" (1517-1590). — 66. courses, etc. What was known 



SCENE v.] HAMLET, , 61 

The natural gates and alleys of the body, 

And with a sudden vigor it doth posset 

And curd, like eager droppings into milk, 

The thin and wholesome blood : so did it mine ; 70 

And a most instant tetter bark'd about, 

Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust. 

All my smooth body. 

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand 

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd ; 75 

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, 

-B4ihi2userd, disappointed, unanel'd, 

No reckoning made, but sent to my account 

With all my imperfections on my head : 

0, horrible ! O, horrible ! most horrible ! 80 

If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not ; 

Let not the royal bed of Denmark be 

A couch for luxury and damned incest. 

But, howsoever thou pursuest this act. 

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive 85 

Against thy mother aught ; leave her to heaven 

in Shakespeare's time, of the circulation of the blood ? Harvey published 
his great discovery in 1628 ? See Julius CcBsar, 11. i. 289, 290. — 68. posset 
= coagulate, curdle ? " Posset is hot milk poured on ale or sack, hav- 
ing sugar, grated biscuit, and eggs, with other ingredients, boiled in it, 
which goes all to a curd." It was eaten or drunk before going to bed. 
See Macbeth, II. ii. 6. — Posset is a verb here only. — 69. eager = sour ? I. 
iv. 2. — 71. instant = instantaneous, as in II. ii. 501 [Clark and Wright] ? 
urgent, importunate, itching, in the sense of Lat. instans [Hudson] ? — 72. 
lazar-like = leper-like ? Lazar is from the name of the beggar Laza- 
rus, in the parable Luke xvi. 20, derived from the Hebrew name Eleazar 
= he whom God helps? — 73. Any rhetorical or poetic reason for the short- 
ness of this line ? — 75. dispatch'd^ despatched ? bereft [Warburton] ? 
deprived by death [Schmidt] ? Does the word express suddenness ? 
apply equally well to life, queen, and crown ? Zeugma ? Lat. dis-, apart; 
pes, ped-is, a foot; pedica, a fetter; Old Fr. despescher, to remove hin- 
derances. Skeat. Brachet makes it from Lat. dis- and pactare, from 
im-pinc/ere, impactus, to impinge on, struck upon. — 77. unhouseled = 
without having received the consecrated wafer ? — disappointed = un- 
ai>pointed, unprepared ? — unanel'd = without extreme unction ? A. S. 
husel = the eiicharist; Gothic hunsl^a. sacrifice (no doubt, from a root 
• signifying to kill). ,Skeat. — ^maneled is from un, not; and A. S. onelan, 
to put oil on; from A. S. o?i, prefix, and ele, oil. Wedgwood makes it 
from "niello" (nigellum) enamel. James v. 14. — In the Antigone of 

Sophocles, 1071, we have atxoipov, aKTepiarov, avoaLOv viKVv = ^ COrpse UU- 

provided with sacrifice for the infernal gods, without holy oil or honors 
of burial, without the sacrament or holy rites; and in Milton's Paradise 
Lost, II. 185, "unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved." — 80. Many give this 
line to Hamlet. Does it come better from him ? Oh. Difference be- 
tween oh and f Which is vocative ? — luxury always = lascivious- 



62 ^ HAMLET, [act I. 

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, 
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once ! 
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, 
And gins to pale his uneffectual fire ; 90 

Adieu, adieu ! Hamlet, remember me. [JExit. 

Hamlet. O all you host of heaven ! O earth ! what else? 
And shall I couple hell? O, fie ! Hold, hold, my heart ; 
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, 
But bear me stiflily up. Remember thee ! 95 

Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat 
In this distracted globe. Remember thee ! 
Yea, from the tablcbt my memory 
I '11 wipe away all trivial fond records. 

All saws of books, .all forms, all pressures past, 100 

That youth and observation copied there ; 
And thy commandment all alone shall live 
Within the book and volume of my brain, 
Unmix'd with- baser matter : yes, by heaven ! 
O most pernicious woman ! 105 

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain ! 
My tables, —/meet it is I set it down, i 

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain ;| 
At least I 'm sure it may be so in Denmark. — [ Writing, 
So, uncle, there you are. — Now to my word ; lio 

It is 'Adieu, adieu ! remember me.' 

ness, lust, in Shakespeare. — 85, 86. taint . . . aught. It is important 
to remember these two limitations imposed by the Ghost. III. ii. 368, 
369.-89. glow-worm. An insect of the order of coleoptera. The fe- 
male, which is wingless, emits a shining green light. — matin = Fr. 
matin, morning; Lat. matutinus, of morning. So Milton, L'Allec/ro, 114=. 
Not elsewhere in Shakespeare. — 90. uneffectual. Because shining 
without heat [Warburton, Hudson, JJyce, etc.] ? lost in the light of the 
morning [Steevens, Schmidt, etc.] ? — 91. The quartos read Adiev, adieu, 
adieu. Which reading is preferable? Why ? — 92. O. See 80. — 93. fie. 
At the word " hell " ? — 96. memory is, in Macbeth, I. 7, 65, a sentinel or 
warder of the brain.— 97. globe = head [Clark and Wright] ? or world 
[Schmidt]? If head, does a gesture accompany? — 98. table = tablet ? 
memorandum-book ? — 99. f ond = foolish ? So in Merchant of Venice, 
III. iii. 9. — Swedish fane, a fool; fdnig, foolish. — records. Accent 
where ? — 100. saws = sayings, maxims ? So in Comus, 110; As You Like 
It, II. vii. 156, Ger. sagen, A. S. sac/u, a saying. — pressures = impres- 
sions ? expressions ? See III. ii. 22. — 105. Why a defective line here ? — 
107. tables. " Any substances prepared for writing, erasures, and re- 
writing, were called table!^.'^ White. See in Luke i. 63. — See 1, 98; also 
II. ii. 136; 2 Henry IV., II. iv. 289, "his master's old tables, his note- 
book," etc. — set it down. Does he really write it down? See Fur- 
iiess, II. ii. 135. — 108. Is this line what he writes on his ''tables," if he 



SCENE v.] HAMLET. 63 

I have sworn 't; 

nTaih!' } [^'■<^"''^] My lo^'d' my lord ! 

Marcellus. [ Within'] Lord Hamlet ! 

Horatio. [ Within] Heaven secure him ! 

Hamlet. So be it ! 

Horatio. [ Within] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord ! 115 

Hamlet. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. 

Enter Horatio and Marcellus. 

Marcellus. How is 't, my noble lord? 

Horatio. What news, my lord? 

Hamlet. O, wonderful ! • 
Horatio. Good my lord, tell it. 

Hamlet. No ; you will reveal it. 

Horatio. Not I, my lord, by heaven. 

Marcellus. Nor I, my lord. 120 

Hamlet. How say you, then ; would heart of man once 
think it? 
But you '11 be secret? 

M^iuus. ] ^y' ^y '^^^^^^'^' ";y '^^■^^- 

Hamlet. There 's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark 
But he 's an arrant knave. 

Horatio. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the 
grave 125 

To tell us this. 

Hamlet. Why, right : you are i' the right ; 

And so, without more circumstance at all, 
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part : 
You, as your business and desire shall point you, — 
For every man has business and desire, 130 

Such as it is ; — and for mine own poor part. 
Look you, I '11 go pray. 

writes at all? — 110. word = watchword ? So in Richard III., Y. iii. 
^9. '' Our ancient word of courage, fair ' St. George.' " —115. Hillo, 
etc. A falconer's cry to call back his hawk from its flight high in air. 
See extract from Taine in the Introduction. — 121. once=:ever, as in 
Antony and Cleojxitra, V. ii. 50? Macbeth, IV. iii. 167. — 124. arrant = 
cowardly ? downright ? A. S. earc/ian, to be a coU-ard. See III. i. 128. 
— 125. come — that has come? or to come? For the omission of to 
before the infinitive, see Abbott, 319. — 127. circumstance = ceremony 
[Schmidt]? circumlocution [Clark and Wright]? See III. i. 1; Mer- 
chant of Venicey I. i. 151, " To wind about my love with circumstance." 



64 HAMLET, [act I. 

Horatio. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. 

Hamlet. I 'm sorry they offend you, heartily ; 
Yes, faith, heartily. 

Horatio. There's no offence, my lord. 135 

Hamlet. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, 
And much offence too. Touching this vision here. 
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you ; 
For your desire to know what is between us, 
O'ermaster 't as you may. ( And now, good friends, 140 

As you are friends, schola^, and soldiers. 
Give me one poor request. 

Horatio. What is 't, my lord? we will. 

Hamlet. Never make known What you have seen to-night. 

Sis. } My 1-^' -« -^11 -^'- 

Hamlet. Nay, but swear 't. 

Horatio. In faith, 

My lord, not I. 

Marcellus. Nor I, my lord, in faith. 146 

Hamlet. Upon my sword. 

Marcellus. We have sworn, my lord, already. 

Hamlet. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. 

Ghost. \_Beneatli] Swear. 

— 129. You, as. You do what ? — 132. go pray = go to pray ? or go and 
pray ? Abbott^ 349. — 133. wild, etc. Are they indicative of real, or pre- 
tended, madness? — 136. Saint Patrick. Why is he mentioned? The 
patron saint of all blunders and confusions [Moberly] ? He naturally 
thought of St. Patrick, who kept a purgatory of his own [Tschischwitz]? 
The name of a saint familiar and popular [Caldecott] ? The whole 
northern world had their learning from Ireland. . . . But it [St. 
Patrick] was . . . only said at random [Warburton] ? St. Patrick, of 
Scotch birth, is supposed to have been one of the first and greatest 
preachers of Christianity in Ireland. Horatio. Instead of this word, 
the folios read ^'vay lord." Corson prefers the latter as a retort to 
"my lord" in the preceding line. Which is the better? 137. mtich 
offence, etc. Does Hamlet purposely misinterpret " offence " in order 
to evade inquiry ? — The folios have a comma after ** too," and a colon 
after " here." Does that give a better meaning ? — 138. honest = real, 
genuine? or truth-telling, trustworthy ? — 140. O'ermaster 't, etc. = 
subdue it as you best can [Hudson] ? — soldiers. Trisyllable ? It 
seems to be in Julius Ccesar, IV. 1 28, " But he's a tried and valiant 
soldier." — 147. upon my sword. Soldier-like and agreeably to the 
ancient custom of his country [Upton] ? Common to swear upon the 
cross which the old swords always liad upon the hilt [Johnson] ? In 
consequence of this practice, the name of Jesus was sometimes inscribed 
on the handle [Douce] ? In a plain sword . . . between the blade and 
the hilt, ... a straight transverse bar . . . suggesting ... a cross 
[Nares] ? See 1 Henry IV., II. iv. 192. — already. Meaning that "in 



SCENE v.] HAMLET. 65 

Hamlet. Ah, ha, boy ! say'st thou so? art thou there, true- 
penny ? — 150 
Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage — 
Consent to swear. 

Horatio, Propose the oath, my lord. 

Hamlet. Never to speak of this that you have seen. 
Swear by my sword. 

Ghost. [_Beneath'] Swear. 155 

Hamlet. Hie et ubique? then we '11 shift our ground. — 
Come hither, gentlemen. 
And lay your hands again upon my sword, 
Never to speak of this that you have heard. 
Swear by my sword. 160 

Ghost. \_Beneath'] Swear. 

Hamlet. Well said, old mole ! canst work i' the earth so 
fast? 
A worthy pioner ! — Once more remove, good friends. 

Horatio. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange ! 

Hamlet. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. 165 

I There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 
But come ; 

Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, 
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, — 170 

As I perchance hereafter shall think meet 
To put an antic disposition on, — 

faith" ^Yas equivalent to an oath ? — 148. Indeed = not in words only, 
but in act, in form [Staunton] ? — 150. true-penny. A mining term. 
. . . Hamlet may with propriety address the Ghost under ground by 
that name [Collier]? Hearty old fellow, stanch and trusty [Forbes]? 
Honest fellow [Johnson, Schmidt, Hudson, etc.] ? — 156. The repetition 
. . . shifting of the ground, and the Latin phrase are taken from the 
ceremonies of conjuration [Tschischwitz]? Hie et ubique = here and 
everywhere. — 161. The quartos add to " swear," in this line, the words 
" b}^ his sword." Do they better the sense ? — 163. pioner. A pioneer 
goes before the army to clear the road, dig trenches, etc. " Pioneers 
with spade and pickaxe armed," Paradise Lost, I. 676. Fr. pied, Lat. 
pes, a foot. The Fr. pion, Eng. pavm, in chess, is one of the foot-sol- 
diers of the game. V. ii. 144. — Purpose and effect of Hamlet'a levity? 
— 165. as a stranger, etc. = receive it . . . under your own roof . . . 
keep it secret. Alluding to the laws of hospitality [Warburton] ? Seem 
not to know it [Mason] ? Receive it without doubt or question [Clark 
and Wright] ? Choose. — 167. your. The folios have our Which is 
better here ? III. ii. 3, 108; IV. iii. 21. Is a philosophic as opposed to 
a credulous spirit discernible in Horatio ? Hudson and others think that 
here is a mild sneer at philosophy. Lat. iste ^ that of yours [with con- 
tempt]. — antic. Originally a doublet of antique, Lat. antiquus, of the 



66 HAMLET. [act I. 

That you, at such time seeing me, never shall, 

With arms encumber'd thus, or this head-shake, 

Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, 175 

As ' Well, well, we know,' or ' We could, an if we would,' 

Or 'If we list to speak,' or ' There be, an if they might,' 

Or such ambiguous giving-out, to note 

That you know aught of me: this not to do. 

So grace and mercy at your most need help you, 180 

Swear. 

Ghost, \_Beneatli] Swear. 

Hamlet, Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! — So, gentlemen, 
With all my love I do commend me to you ; 
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is 185 

May do, to express his love and friending to you, 
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together ; 
And still 3^our fingers on j^our lips, I pray. 
The time is out of joint ; — O cursed spite, 
That ever I was born to set it right ! — 190 

Nay, come, let's go together. [^Exeunt. 

olden time; then fanciful, odd, capricious, foolish [Moberly] ? disguised 
[Clark and Wright] ? Has he already begun to counterfeit madness ? 
See Introduction. — 174. arms encumbered = arms folded in sign of 
wisdom [Moberlj^] ? arms [of another person] seized as if to whisper in 
his ear, or button-hole him ? — 173. time. The quartos read times. 
Better? seeing. Dissyllable? in scanning? never. Dissyllable 
here? Must we reduce these lines to a tame uniformity of ten syl- 
lables each ? Abbott, 470. — 175. of naturally followed a verbal noun. 
Abbott, 178. Why is not the used before it ? Abbott, 89. — 176, 177. 
an if. Icelandic encZa, moreover, if. "Shakespeare's an is nothing 
but a Scandinavian use of the common word and. When the force of 
an grew misty, it was reduplicated by the addition of ' if ' ... a?i if 
really meaning if ifV So and if in Matthew, xxiv. 48. Skeat. See I. i'i. 
147. — 177. be is used instead of ai^e for euphony or variety ? See Abbott, 
300. — 178. giving out = indication, intimation, prof ession ? — to. Su- 
perfluous ? Does it make the meaning more clear ? Abbott, 416. — 180. 
most = greatest? Frequent usage in Shakespeare? See Abbott, 17. — 
183. perturbed, etc. Pathos here? — 184. commend = recommend to 
kind remembrance? intrust? — 185. Hamlet frequently speaks of him- 
self in the third person [Clarke] ? characteristic of what sort of men ? — 
186. friending = friendliness? Friend is often a verb in Shakespeare? 
— 187. lack = be wanting? as in I. iv. 3? See Gen. xviii. 28, *' Per- 
adventure there shall lack five." — 189. out of joint, etc. How ? Does 
he realize that the burden laid on him is too great for his strength ? 
How is he hampered in his surroundings ? Which is the emphatic word 
in line 190 ? — 191. Nay. Why " nay " ? Progress made thus far in the 
plot ? in the development of character ? 



SCENE I.] HAMLET, * 67 



ACT II. 

Scene I. A Room in Polonius's House, 
Enter Polonius and Reynaldo. 

Polonius. Give him this money and tliese notes, Reynaldo. 

Reynaldo. I will, my lord. 

Polonius, You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo, 
Before you visit him, to make inquiry 
Of his behavior. 

Reynaldo, My lord, I did intend it. 5 

Polonius, Marry, well said, very well said. Look you, 
sir. 
Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris, ^ 

And how, and who ; what means, and where they keep ; 
AYhat company, at what expense ; and finding 
By this encompassment and drift of question 10 

That they do know my son, come you more nearer ■— I 
Than your particular demands will touch it : 
Take you, as 't were, some distant knowledge of him. 

How long a time elapses between the first and second acts? — 3 
shall = will? See Ps. xxiii. 6. Abbott, 315. — marvellous. Adjec- 
tives are continually used in Shakespeare for adverbs. Any special 
reason here? Abbottyl. — 4. inquiry. The quartos have mQ-inVe. Bet- 
ter? Abbott, ^o\. — 7. me^for me? The so-called '" ethical dative"? 
See II. ii. 560. The ethical dative denotes a person to whom the thought 
is of special interest. Julius Ccesar, I. ii. 256, " he plucked me ope his 
doublet." See ^&6o^f, 220. — Danskers. The old name of Denmark 
v^SiS Vanske. The Scandinavian sA; is softened into the English ish? — 
8^ keep. So in Merchant of Venice, III. iii. 19; Measure for Measure, 
III. i. 10. So Tennyson in In Menwriam . . . *' as yet I keep within his 
courts." 10. encompassment and drifts scope and tendency [Clark 
and Wright]? winding and circuitous course [Caldecott]? encompass- 
ment = ciicnmlociition [Webster]? " Lat. co7n for cum, together, and 
passus, a pace, stej), way, pass, route; whence compassus, a route that 
comes together or joins itself, a circuit." Skeat. — 11. come you = you 
come? you are sure to come? — more /learer. ^' Er and est . . . lost 
something of their force, and sometimes received . . . more and most 
. . , for greater emphasis." Abbott, 11. In Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 
242, " How much more elder art thou than thy looks! " See Hamlet, III. 
ii. 283; III. iv. 155; Y. ii. 121. — 12. it. What? "It is sometimes used 
indefinitely, as the object of a verb, and seems to indicate a pre-existing 
object in the mind." Abbott, 226. — 13. Take you = assume [Clark and 



68 HAMLET, [act II. 

As thus, 'I know his father and his friends, 

And in part him,' — do you mark this, Reynaldo? 15 

Reynaldo. Ay, very well, my lord. 

Polonius. ' And in part him ; but ' you may say ' not 
well ; 
But, if 't be he I mean, he's very wild, 
Addicted ' so and so : and there put on him 
What forgeries you please ; marry, none so rank 20 

As may dishonor him ; take heed of that ; 
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips 
As are companions noted and most known 
To youth and liberty. 

Reynaldo. As gaming, my lord. 24 

Polonius, Aj^, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling, 
Drabbing ; you may go so far. 

Reynaldo. My lord, that would dishonor him. 

Polonius. Faith, no ; as you may season it in the charge. 
You must not put another scandal on him. 
That he is open to incontinency ; 30 

That 's not my meaning : but breathe his faults so quaintly 
That they may seem the taints of liberty. 
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind, 
A savageness in unreclaimed blood, 
Of general assault. 

Reynaldo. But, my good lord, — 35 

Polonius. Wherefore should you do this ? 



Wright] ? assume the appearance of having [Rolfe, Delius, etc.] ? — 20. 
forgeries = fabrications, false charges ? (Lat. /«?>rica, a workshop, also 
a fabric; whence, by usual letter chsinges, fabi^'ca, faurca, faurga, forga , 
and finally /o?Y/e. Thus forge is a doublet ot fabric. Skeat. — 22. slips = 
offences? slight offences. — 24. to youth, etc. = companions to youth? 
or most known to youth? — 25. fencing. Why is this included among 
slips? ''The cunning of Fencers [is now] applied to quarrelling.*' 
Gosson (1554-1623) in Schoole of Abuse, 1579. —28. season. As in I. ii. 
192 ? modify? qualify ? — 29._ another -quite different ? afurther [Hud- 
son] ? a deeper, as aAAw?, alios, means particularly, and aAAo? 'oSittj?, alios 
hodites,an out-of-the-way or foreign traveller [Moberlyj V — 31. breathe 
= whisper [Clark and Wright]? utter, speak [Dyce, Rolfe, etc.]? — 
quaintly = ingeniously, cleverly, artfully, neatly? Certainly derived 
from Lat. cognitus, known, well-known, famous; "though confused with 
Lat. comptus, neat, adorned. Skeat. — 32. taints. Lat. tingere, to 
tinge, dye; Fr. teindre, to stain. — 34. unreclaimed. ''Cotgrave has 
* Adomestiquer : to tame, reclaim, make gentle.' A term of falconry.'* 
Clark and Wright. See Romeo and Juliet, IV. ii. 47. — 35. of general 
assault = such as youth is generally assailed by [Hudson] ? to which 
all young men are liable [Dyce] ? such as generally attacks people 



SCENE I.] HAMLET, 69 

Reynaldo. Ay, my lord, 

I would know that. 

Polonms, Marry, sir, here 's my drift; 

And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant. 
You laying these slight sullies on my son. 
As 't were a thing a little soil'd i' the working, 40 

Mark you. 

Your party in converse, him you would sound, 
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes 
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur'd 
He closes with you in this consequence : 45 

' Good sir,' or so, or ' friend,' or ' gentleman,' 
According to the phrase or the addition 
Of man and country. 

Reynaldo. Very good, my lord. 

Polonius. And then, sir, does he this — he does — what was 
I about to say ? By the mass, I was about to say something ; 
where did I leave ? 51 

Reynaldo. At ' closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or 
so,' and 'gentleman.' 

Polonius. At ' closes in the consequence,' ay, marry ; 
He closes thus : ' I know the gentlem.an ; 55 

I saw him yesterday, or t' other day. 
Or then, or then, with such, or such, and, as you say, 
There was he gaming, there overtook in 's rouse, 

[Moberly] ? — 36. Ay. Metrically a dissyllable. Rolfe. "Monosylla- 
bles which are emphatic . . . often take the place of a whole foot." 
Abbott, 481, 482. See IV. vii. 58.-38. fetch of warrant = warranted 
artifice [Dyce]V allowable stratagem [Hudson]? an artful stratagem 
[Moberh'] ? — 40. As 't were, etc. = as you might speak of an article 
slightly soiled [Moberly] ? as having . . . unavoidably contracted some 
smaU blemishes [Caldecott] ? — 42. converse = conversation ? Accented 
as in Othello, III. i. 34 ? Shakespeare uses the noun three times. — him 
= he whom [Clark and Wright]? I mean him whom? Abbott, 208, 
gives several examples in which Shakespeare uses him for he. — 43. pre- 
nominate aforenamed, aforesaid? Lat. pi^ce, before; nomeiif name. 
As to the omission of d, see I. ii. 20. Abbott, 342. — 44. breathe. Line 
31. — 45. closes, etc. = falls in with you into this conclusion [Caldecott] ? 
in this consequence = by the consequence or drift of your talk [Mo- 
berly? in thus following up vour remark [Schmidt] ? — 47. addition = 
as in I. iv. 20? Macbeth^ I. ii'i. 106; III. i. 99. —50. mass = Lord's Sup- 
per, eucharist ? Lat. missa, dismissal; mittere, to send. Either because 
the congregation is dismissed, or because the catechumens are sent 
away. By the mass is omitted from the folios, as being an oath [Col- 
lier] ? — si. leave = leave off ? Often so in Shakespeare. — 58. o'ertook 
= overtaken by intoxication ? There was a tendency in the age of Eliz- 
abeth to drop the en, and use the past tense for the participle. Abbott, 



70 HAMLET, [act II. 

There falling out at tennis ; ' or perchance, 
' 1 saw him enter such a house of sale,' 60 

^ . .^ytdelicet, a brothel, or so forth. 
^" See you now ; 

Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth ; 

And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, 

With windlasses and with assays of bias, 65 

By indirections find directions out: 

So, by my former lecture and advice. 

Shall you my son. You have me, have you not? 

Eeynaldo, My lord, I have. 

Polonius, God be wi' you ; fare you well. 

Reynaldo, Good my lord I 70 

Polonms, Observe his inclination in yourself. 

Reynaldo, I shall, my lord. 

Polonms. And let him ply his music. 

Reynaldo, Well, my lord. 

Polonms. Farewell ! \_Exit Reynaldo. 

Enter Ophelia. 

How now, Ophelia ! what 's the matter? 
Ophelia. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted ! 

343. —rouse, as in I. ii. 127. —61. videlicet = to wit, viz. —64. of vris- 
cloni = wise? See of mercy, IV. vi. 18.^ reach = mental grasp? of 
£adi = with far-reaching minds ? Abbott, 168, gives this of the sense of 
i/wieansof. See I. iv. 56. In Love's Labor's Lost, "we of taste and 
feeling." — 65. windlasses = winding, roundabout ways? subtleties? 
" Apparently compounded of loind (a verb) and lace . . . the old sense 
of lace was a snare or bit of twisted string, so that tlie use of it in the 
sense of ' bend ' is not remarkable. Thus icindlass jyvohahly = wind-lace, 
a winding bend, a circuitous track." Skeat. — assays, attempts, essays, 
trials ? — bias. "A bias is a weight in one side of a bowl, which keeps 
it from rolling straight to the mark, as in nine-pins." Hudson. " The 
player does not aim . . . directly, but in a curve, so that the bias brings 
the ball round." Clark and Wright. i^ias = an inclination to one side, 
aslope? Assays of bias = indirect attempts? — 68. have me^under- 
stand me V nie = my meaning? — 69. God be wi' you. Three folios 
have God buy you. Good-by is a contraction of these words ? Macbeth, 
III. i. 43. — fare originally = travel, speed. Life is a journey, a pilgrim- 
age ? A. S. faran, to travel. — 70. Good my lord! I. ii. 169; II. ii. 
508. Why put an exclamation point (!) after lord? — 11. Observe his 
inclination in yourself = Observe his inclination in your own person, 
not by spies [Johnson]? The temptations you feel, suspect in him 
[Cope'll] ? Find them out by personal observation [Caldecott] ? Con- 
form your own conduct to his inclinations [Clark and Wright] ? Use 
your own ej-es upon him, as well as learn from others; or the meaning 
may be, comply with his inclinations in order to draw him out [Hud- 
son]? Choose. — 73. ply his music = attend to his music-lessons 



Nit 



SCENE I.] HAMLET, 71 

Polonius, With what, i' the name of God? 

Ophelia. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, 
Lord Hamlet, with his donblet all unbrac'd; 
No hat upon his head ; his sto;ckings foul'd, 
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ankle ; 80 

Pale as his shirt ; his knees knocking each other ; 
And with a look so piteous in purport 
As if he had been loosed out of hell 
To speak of horrors, — he comes before me. 

Folonius. Mad for thy love ? 

Ophelia, My lord, I do not know ; 85 

But truly, I do fear it. 

Polonius. "What said he ? 

Ophelia. He took me by the wrist and held me hard ; 
Then goes he to the length of all his arm. 
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, 
He falls to such perusal of my face 90 

As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so ; 

[Schmidt] ? go on to what tune he pleases . . . conduct himself in any 
stj^le, and at any rate he chooses [Clark] ? fiddle his secrets all out 
[Hudson]? gamble, swear, quarrel, drab, enter houses of ^qXq, videlicet 
brothels; only let him ply his music: true cavalier breeding ! [Visch- 
er]? — 76. God. Changed to //eat'e?i in the folios. Was it on account 
of the act of Parliament forbidding the utterance of the sacred name on 
the stage? — 77= closet = chamber, which w^ord is used in the folios. 
III. ii. 307. Old Fr. cluSy an enclosed space; diminutive ending -et. Lat. 
claiisum, closed ; claitdere, to shut. — 78. doublet = a close, tightly-fitting 
waistcoat, the skirts reaching a little below the girdle. Fr. double, a#d' 
diminutive -^t. Lat. diio^ two, and plicare, to fold. — unbraced = unfas- 
tened, as in Jidius Ccesar, I. iii. 48, and II. i. 262 ? — 80. ungartered, as 
a lover's ought to be in As You Like It, III. ii. 352 ! — down-gyved^ 
hanging like gyves or fetters [Clark and Wright]? hanging down like 
the loose cincture that confines the fetters or gyves round the ankles 
[Hudson] ? rolled down [Theobald] ? Welsh ge/yn, a fetter. — 82. purr 
port. How^ accented ? Scan. Not found elsewhere in Shakespeare. — 
82, 83. so . , . do. " Bearing in mind that as is simply a contraction 
for ' all-so,' we shall not be surprised at some interchanging of so and as." 
Abbott, 275. Macbet h, I. ii. ^'3. — 8^. The line lacks a syllable? Hence 
Abbott, 478, makes horrors a trisyllable. Says Furness, " Why not let 
Ophelia's strong emotion shudderingly fill up the gap?" Yes; and 
why not in the same way fill many an incomplete line? — 84. niadk 
Many think so; but Lowell (Amonf/ My Books, 1. p. 220) says, " If you 
deprive Hamlet of reason, there is no truly tragic motive left. He 
would be a fit subject for Bedlam, but not for the stage. We might have 
. pathology enough, but no pathos. ... If Hamlet is irresponsible, the 
i whole play is a chaos." Was he, then, necessarily shamming? See 
[quotations from Taine, Hugo, Furness, etc., in the Introduction. — 90. 
perusal = examination [Clark and Wright] ? study [Rolfe, etc.]? — 91. 
as = as if ? See I. ii. 217. — draAV = make a picture of ? — Scan. Lines 
. with four accents, where there is a change of thought, are not uncom- 



72 HAMLET, [act II. 

At last, a little shaking of mine arm, 

And thrice his head thus waving up and down, 

He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound 

That it did seem to shatter all his bulk 95 

And end his being : that done, he lets me go ; 

And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd. 

He seem'd to find his way without his eyes ; 

For out o' doors he went witliout their help. 

And, to the last, bended their light on me. lOo 

Polonms. Come, go with me ; I will go seek the king. 
This is the very ecstasy of love, ^ 
Whose violent property fordoes itself 
And leads the will to desperate undertakings, 
As oft as any passion under heaven ^ 105 

That does aflflict our natures. I am sorry, — ^ 
What, have you given him any hard words of late? 

Ophelia. No, my good lord, but, as you did command, 
I did repel his letters, and denied 
His access to me. 

Polonius, That hath made him mad. HO 

I am sorry that with better heed and judgment 
I had not quoted him. I fear'd he did but trifle. 
And meant to wreck thee ; but beshrew my jealousy ! 

mon [Abbott, 507] ? Let the pause after it supply the gap ? See note on 
line 84. — 92. shaking. * 'A verbal substantive, is made, is understood." 
Tschischwitz. ** Of naturally followed a verbal noun." Abbott, 178. — 95. 
bulk = chest [Singer, White, Hudson, etc.] ? body [Malone, Dyce, etc.] ? 
The original idea in biilk is a swelling. Gaelic bvlcj, belly, lump, mass; 
bulk, the trunk of the body, and bulk, magnitude, connected by the no- 
tion of bulgiiuj. Skeat. — 100, their light, etc. ''There is more than 
the love of forty thousand brothers in that hard grasp of the wrist; in that 
long gaze at arm's length; in the force that might, but will not, draw her 
nearer; and never a word from this king of words ! His first great 
silence; the second is death ! " Miles (Hevieio of Hamlet, p. 28, cited by 
Furness). — 101. go seek. To omitted? or and? I. v. 132. Abbott, M9. 
— 102. ecstasy, Gr. eKaraa-Lg, ecstasis; ck, out, (TTaaL<;, standing; Lat. ec- 
stdsis, a being beside one's self (as Ophelia is ''divided from herself" 
in IV. V. G8; the condition of one who is out of his head; alienation 
of mind, madness, any violent perturbation of soul. III. i. 160; III. 
iv. 74, 136, 137; Macbeth, III. ii. 22; IV. iii. 170. — 103. fordoes= un- 
does, destroys? " Fo?% like the German ver, has a negative sense in 
composition . . . sometimes intensive." Clark and Wright. See V. 
i. 210. — 109. repels send back? refuse to receive? — 112. quoted = 
noted, marked? "Invariably used by Shakespeare in the sense of ob- 
serve." M. Mason. Lat. quotus, quota, how much, how many; Low 
Lat. qxwtdre, to say how many (with reference as to the numbering of 
chapters), to mark off into chapters and verses. — 113. w^reck. As a 
noun this means " that which is cast on shore," as sea- weed; then, shij)- 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 73 

By heaven, it is as proper to our age 

To east beyond ourselves in our opinions 115 

As it is common for the younger sort 

To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king : 

This must be known ; which, being kept close, might move 

More grief to hide than hate to utter love. [^Exeunt. 

Scene II. A Room in the Castle, 

Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and At- 
tendants. 

King, Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ! 
Moreover that we much did long to see you, 
The need we have to use you did provoke 
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard 
Of Hamlet's transformation ; so I call it, 5 

Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man 
Resembles that it was. What it should be, 

wreck, ruin. A. S. lorecaii = drive, cast forth. The folios and most of 
the quartos spell the word with an a, and some editors interpret the word 
as meaning raclc, torture, grieve. Better ? — beshrew = a mischief on, 
plague on ? See note on shrewdly, I. iv. 1. *' The prefix 5e-or by- (Gothic 
hi-; O. Sax., hi-; Ger. 5e-, hex-; Dutch he-) denotes nearness, or is inten- 
sive. Sometimes it seems to have lost its force. Sometimes it renders 
an intransitive verb transitive, as beseem, befall, bemoan ; or it changes 
the direction of the transitive relation, as behold, beset, betake; or it 
spreads the action, as bedaub, bedeck, bespot.^^ Sprague {Masterpieces in 
English Literature, p. 297). — jealousy. **Used by Shakespeare in a 
wider sense than now." Clark and Wright. — 114. proper = appropri- 
ate ? peculiar? proper ^o = characteristic of ? — 115. cast = compute, cal- 
culate [Schmidt]? contrive, design, plan [Clark and Wright] ? — cast 
beyond, etc. = to forecast more than we ought for our own interests 
[Moberly]? let cunning go farther than reason can attend it [Johnson] ? 
overreach ourselves with our own policy [Hudson] ? — 118, 119. closer 
secret? might move more grief, etc. = the king may be angry at my 
telling of Hamlet's love; but more grief would come from hiding it 
[Moberly] ? Hamlet's mad conduct might cause more grief if it were 
hidden, than the revelation of his love for Ophelia would cause hatred, 
i.e., on the part of the king and queen [Clark and Wright] ? We may 
cause more of grief to others than of hatred on his [Hamlet's] part by 
disclosing it [Hudson]? Hudson adds, "The poet sometimes strains 
language pretty hard in order to close a scene with a rhyme." 

Scene II. — 2. Moreover = over and above the fact? besides? — 3. 
provoke (Lat. j^^'o, forth; vocdre, to call). — 5. I. The quartos omit 
. this I. Effect on the meaning ? the scanning ? — 6. Sith = since ? A. S. 
sith, after, later, akin to Gothic seithus, late; Icel. senin, slow, late; Lat. 
se-ro, late. A. S. siththan, sidM/ia/i = after that. Sithens arose from ad- 
dition of adverbial ending -s or -es to the older form sithen. Sins is 
abbreviation of Mid. Eng. sithens. Since is written for sins to keep the 



74 HAMLET. [act it. 

More than his father's death, that thus hath put him 

So much from the understanding of himself, 

I cannot dream of. I entreat you both, 10 

That, being of so young days brought up with him, 

And sith so neighbor' d to his youth and humor, 

That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court 

Some little time ; so by your companies 

To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather, 15 

So much as from occasion you may glean. 

Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus, 

That, open'd, lies within our remedy. 

Queen, Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you ; 
And sure I am.two men there are not living 20 

To whom he more adheres. If it will please you 
To show us so much gentry and good will 
As to expend your time with us awhile. 
For the supply and profit of our hope. 

Your visitation shall receive such thanks 25 

As fits a king's remembrance. 

Rosencrantz, Both your majesties 

Might, by the sovereign power you have of us. 
Put your dread pleasures more into command 
Than to entreaty. 

final s sharp. Skeat. — S, 9. put Mm . . . from. So III. i. 174, 175? 
Repeatedly found in Shakespeare as in Romeo and Juliet, III. v. 107. 
— 10. of. '^Superfluous? The folios have cleeme? Better? — 11. of = 
from? as we still say '' of late " ? Abbott, 167. So *' of long time," Acts 
viii. 11 ; Maetzner, ii. 221. — 12. sith. Line 6. — neighbor'd = associated 
or intimate with [Rolfe ? So Henry F., I. i. 62. — humor = temper of 
mind, disposition [Corson]? The quartos have havior, hav, havour? 
Preferable? Lat. humere ov timer e, to be moist; humor, moisture. Fr. 
hiimeur, humor, temper, disposition. The state of the mind was once 
believed to depend on the condition of the fluids of the body; the four 
humors causing the four " complexions " or temperaments, — choleric, 
melancholic, phlegmatic, and sanguine. See note on I. iv. 27. — 13. 
That. Needless? — vouchsafe -your rest = please to reside [Calde- 
cott] ? kindly remain ? — 14. companies. See note on loves, I. i. 173; icis- 
doms, I. ii. 15. — 17. Whether. Monosyllable ? as it is said to be often 
in Shakespeare. Often it is written iche'r or lohere ? Must we reduce 
the foot to an iambus? Abbott, 466. — This line is omitted in the folios. 
Is it needed ? — 18. open'd = disclosed ? So repeatedly in Shakespeare. 
— 22. gentry = courtesy [Schmidt, Wright, etc.]? complaisance [War- 
burton ? courtesy, gentleness, or good-breeding [Hudson] ? So in V. ii. 
109. Old Fr. genterise, rank; gentil, gentle, gracious; Lat. f/entilis, 
belonging to a gens or clan; akin to genteel, of noble race, well-bred. 
See Stormonth. — 24:. supply and profit = aid and furtherance [Cal- 
decott] ? feeling and realizing [Hudson] ? — 25. visitation. Present 
meaning of this word ? — 27. of = over ? Abbott, 174. — 29. to = into ? — 



SCENE TI.] HAMLET. 75 

Guildenstern, But we both obey, 
And here give up ourselves, in the full bent 30 

To lay our service freely at your feet, 
To be commanded. 

King, Thanks, Eosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern. 

Queen, Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz ; 
And I beseech you instantly to visit 35 

M}" too much changed son. — Go, some of you, 
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. 

Guildenstern, Heavens make our presence and our prac- 
tices 
Pleasant and helpful to him ! 

Queen, Ay, amen ! 

[^Exeicnt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, aiid some Attendants. 

Enter Polonius. 

Polonms, The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord. 
Are joj^fully returned. 41 

King, Thou still hast been the father of good news. 

Polonius. Have I, my lord ? Assure you, my good liege, 
I hold my duty, as I hold my soul. 

Both to my God and to my gracious king ; 45 

And I do think, or else this brain of mine 
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure 
As it hath us'd to do, that I have found 
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy. 

King, O, speak of that ; that do I long to hear. 50 

Polonius, Give first admittance to the ambassadors ; 
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast. 

King, Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in. — 

\_Exit Polonius. 

But. Omitted in the folios. Is it needed ? Might a pause between the 
speeches fill out the time? — 30. bent == endeavor, straining [Schmidt]? 
utmost degree . . . the expression is derived from archery [Johnson] ? 
inclination, as in III. ii. 359; Twelfth Nifiht, II. iv. 37? — 34. gentle. 
Prettily the queen applies this word? — 38. Heavens. This plural is 
often so used in Shakespeare; as in Antony and Cleopatra, I. ii. 57. — 42. 
still. See I. i. 122; I. ii. 48.-43. Assure you = I assure you? be 
assured? assure yourself ? — liege. Old High Ger. leclec ; Mod. Ger. 
ledig, free. A liege lord seems to have. been a lord of a free band, and 
his lieges . . . free from all other obligation. SJceat. — 45. and. The 

f folios have "one." As good? — 47. trails course of an animal pur- 
sued by the scent [Johnson]? — 52, fruit = dessert after meat [John- 
son] ? Two folios have newes instead oi fruit ; two have neics : whence 



76 HAMLET. [act II. 

He tells me, my sweet queen, that he hath found 

The head and source of all your son's distemper. 55 

Queen. I doubt it is no other but the main, — 
His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage. 

King. Well, we shall sift him. — 

Ee-enter Polonius, with Voltimand and Cornelius. 

Welcome, my good friends ! 
Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway? 

Voltimand. Most fair return of greetings and desires. 60 
Upon our first, he sent out to suppress 
His nephew's levies, which to him appeared 
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack, 
But, better look'd into, he truly found 

It was against your highness : whereat griev'd, 65 

That so his sickness, age, and impotence. 
Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests 
On Fortinbras ; which he, in brief, obeys, 
Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine 
Makes vow before his uncle never more 70 

To give the assay of arms against your majesty. 
AVhereon old Norway, overcome with joy. 
Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee, 
And his commission to employ those soldiers, 
So levied as before, against the Polack ; 75 

With an entreaty, herein further shown, {^Giving a paper. 
That it might please you to give quiet pass 
Through your dominions for this enterprise. 



Tschischwitz, following Hunter, changes '^ fruit " to '' nuts " ! — 54. my 
sweet queen. T\a^o quartos have *' my dear Gertrude." Preference? 
White says the quarto reading '' smacks less of the honeymoon." — 56. 
doubt = suspect ? fearV Lines 116, 117, 118, 119. — but = than? I. i. 
102. — the main = tlie main point? in the main point [Staunton]? the 
main cause, as in 2 Henry VI., I. i. 208? Lat. magniis, great; Icel. 
megin, strength, chief. — 60. desires = kind wishes ? — 61. first =greet- 
ing and desire, first expression of the ambassador's request [Clark and 
Wright] ? audience or opening of our business [Caldecott] ? — 63. Po- 
lack. I. i. 63.-64. truly ivas? or truly found? The Elizabethan 
authors took great liberties in the transposition of adverbs. Abbott, 420. 
— 67. borne in hand = deceived, deluded? cheated [Moberly] ? de- 
luded by false assurances or expectations [Hudson] ? Macbeth, III. i. 
80. — sends. " When there can be no doubt what is the nominative, it 
is sometimes omitted." Abbott, 399. So III. i. 8 ? — assay = proof, trial, 
test. III. iii. 69. — arms = war? battle? — 73. three. The quartos 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 11 

On such regards of safety and allowance 
As therein are set down. 

King, It likes us well ; 80 

And at our moreconsider'd time we '11 read, 
Answer, and think upon this business. 
Meantime we thank you for your well-took labor. 
Go to your rest ; at night we '11 feast together : 
Most welcome home ! \_Exeiint Voltimand and Cornelius. 

Polonius, This business is well ended. — 85 

My liege, and madam, to expostulate 
What majesty should be, what duty is, 
AVhy day is day, night night, and time is time, 
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time. 
Therefore,/since brevity is the soul of witJ 90 

And tedioifeness the limbs and outward flourishes, 
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad : 
Mad call I it ; for, to define true madness, 
What is 't but to be nothing else but mad? 
But let that go. , . 

Queen, ^More matter, with less art.) 95 

have three-score. Preferable ? Commercial value of money in those 
ages? — 79, regards, etc. = terms securing the safety of the country, 
and regulating the passage of the troops through it [Clark and 
\Yright] ? conditions safe and allo\vabl(; [Rolfe] ? pledges of safety to 
the country, and terms of permission [Hudson] ? — 80. likes = pleases ?. 
" There are more impersonal verbs in Early English than in Eliza- 
bethan, and many more in Elizabethan than in Modern English." Ab- 
bott, 297, tries to account for it. — 81. considered tiine = time for con- 
sideration ? Abbott, 29i, 374, shows how such indefinite and apparently 
not passive use (of passive participles like " considered ") arose. — 82. 
Ans^ver, etc. Is the order of words right in this line ? — 83. well-took, 
Shakespeare also uses taken and ta'ei). I. ii. 14; I. iii. 106. — 84. feast. 
The king's intemperance is never suffered to be forgotten [Johnson] ? 
— 8(>. expostulate = discuss fully [Clark and \Yright] V reason earnestly 
[Skeat] ? show by discussion, to put the pros and cons, to answer de- 
mands upon the question [Caldecott] ? " Shakespeare also uses the word 
in its modern and legitimate sense." Clark and Wright. Probably from 
Lat. postiddre, to ask, fr. poscere. Ex-sls prefix signifies out, out-and-out, 
thoroughly , earnestly. — 90. wit = knowledge [Clark and Wright] ? un- 
derstanding [Johnson] ? wisdom [Staunton] ? common sense, as is often 
the case in'Shakespeare ? Note the beauty of the proverb; but does the 
next line help it? — 91. flourishes. Dissyllable? or is the line an 
Alexandrine ? —93, 94. " Murde»is when a man is murderously killed; 
the killing in such a case constitutes murder." Western judge charging 
a jury. — 93. 3Iad call I it, etc. The use of language like that of Polo- 
nius would not, in Shakespeare's euphuistic days, argue that complete 
folly which it would at the present time [Moberly] ? —95. more mat- 
ter, etc. = more matter with less mannerism [Rolfe, etc.] ? — less art == 
a less stilted style? less rhetoric? The queen uses "art" with refer- 



78 HAMLET. [act II. 

Polonius. Madam, I swear I use no art at all. 
That he is mad, 't is true ;( 't is true 't is pity, 
And pity 't is 't is true\ a foolish figure ; 
But farewell it, for I will use no art. 

Mad let us grant him, then ; and now remains 100 

That we find out the cause of this effect. 
Or rather say, the cause of this defect. 
For this effect defective comes by cause : 
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. 
Perpend. 105 

I have a daughter — have while she is mine — 
Who, in her duty and obedience, mark. 
Hath given me this ; now gather, and surmise. 
[Reads] ' To the celestial and my souVs idol^ the most beauti- 
jied Ophelia^' — no 

That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase ; ' beautified ' is a vile 
phrase : but you shall hear. Thus : 
[Reads] ' Li her excellent ivhite bosom^ these^ etc' 

Queen. Came tliis from Hamlet to her? 

Polonius. Good madam, stay awhile ; I will be faithful. 115 
[Reads] ' Doubt thou the stars are fire; 

Doubt that the sun doth move; 
Doubt truth to be a liar ; 

But never doubt I love. 119 

' dear Ophelia^ I am ill at these numbers. I have not art 



ence to Polonius' stilted style ; the latter uses it as opposed to truth and 
nature [Delius] ? — 100. remains. It remains? or there remains? Ab- 
bott, 404. — 105. Perpend. Ij2it. perpendere, to weigh carefully, ponder. 
A word used only by Pistol, Polonius, and the clowns [Schmidt] ? May 
we suppose that a long pause ensues to fill out this line ? Is Polonius 
hesitating from embarrassment ? — 110. beautified is a vile phrase. 
Do you agree with Polonius? Is the w^ord a mongrel or hybrid of 
French and Latin ? The Elizabethans were not " so particular " about 
hybrids as w^e. Abbott, 428. Does the word indicate that her beauty is 
the work of art? Is it, as Johnson says, "a vile phrase for the ambi- 
guity of its meaning " ? It is a verb in Tico Gentlemen of Verona, IV. i. 
55.-113. in=into ? Like in when we say '* fell in love " ? V. ii. 70. 
So in Tioo Gentlemen of Verona, III. i. 249, 250. Abbott, 159. —bosom. 
Steevens says, " Women anciently had a pocket " there for love-letters, 
money, etc. Is Hamlet more poetic than that ? Storffrich thinks Polo- 
nius adroitly interpolates the words, '' In her excellent white bosom, 
these " ! — these. The word these was usually added at the end of the 
superscription of letters [Hudson] ? — 116. Doubt = be doubtful about 
[Meiklejohn] ? have a misgiving, have a half belief [Clarke] ? suspect, as 
in I. ii. 256 [Clark and Wright] ? — 119. doubt = disbelieve ? Is it neces- 
sary thus to give two meanings to doubt f — 120. numbers. Is a play 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 79 

to recJton my groans; but that I love thee best^ most best^ 
believe it. Adieu. 

' Thine evermore^ most dear lady^ whilst this 
machine is to him^ Hamlet.' 
This in obedience hath my daughter shown me, 125 

And more above, hath his solicitings, 
As they fell out by time, by means, and place, 
All given to mine ear. 

Ki7}g. But how hath she 

Received his love? 

Polonius. What do you think of me ? 

King. As of a man faithful and honorable. 130 

Polonius. I would fain prove so. But what might you 
think. 
When I had seen this hot love on the wing — 
As I perceiv'd it, I must tell you that. 
Before my daughter told me — what might you, 
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think, 135 

If I had play'd the desk or table-book. 
Or given m}^ heart a winking, mute and dumb. 
Or look'd upon this love with idle sight ; 
What might you think? No, I went round to work, 
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak : 140 

' Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star ; 
This must not be : ' and then I precepts gave her, 

on this word implied in the next line ? — 121. reckon =:= count, number 
[Schmidt]? express in verse, to number metrically [DeliusJV — most 
best lady? or love thee most best? — 124. machine = body ? Not 
elsewliere used by Shakespeare. " Hamlet's letter is written in the 
affected language of euphuism [Clark and Wright] ? Euphuism, V. ii. 
90, et seq. — 126. more above = moreover ? besides ? See line 2. — hath 
= she hath? — 127. by = with [Abbott, 145]? — 133. I perceived, etc. 
*' There is much humor in the old man's inveterate foible for omnis- 
cience." Moberly. Is Polonius consciously lying ? — 136. played, etc. = 
just minuted the matter down in my own mind [Moberly] ? been the 
agent of their correspondence, their confidant [Warburton, etc.] ? noted 
it down in my tables or memorandum-book, and let it go no further 
[Meiklejohn] ? '* A desk or table-book does not prate of what it con- 
tains." Hudson. — 1?>1. v^inking = hint ? connivance? For loinJcing 
the quartos read loovking. Admissible? — 138. idle = indifferent ? — 
139. round = squarely ? downright ? directly, without ceremony ? The 
reverse of its literal meaning, i.e., loithout circuity [Caldecott] ? Abbott, 
60. — 140. bespeak. See note on beshrew, II. i. 113. — 141. star = des- 
tiny [Hudson, Collier] ? sphere [White] ? influence of the star which 
governs thy fortunes [Staunton] ? — out of thy star = beyond the horo- 
f scope of your fortune [Moberly] ? above thee in fortune [Schmidt] ? 
iTwelfth Nighty II. v. 156. — 142. precepts. The quartos have 2>re5cr2pi5. 



80 HAMLET, [act II. 

That she should lock herself from his resort, 

Admit no messengers, receive no tokens. 

Which done, she took the fruits of my advice ; 145 

And he, repulsed — a short tale to make — 

Fell into a sadness, then into a fast. 

Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, 

Thence to a lightness, and by this declension 

Into the madness wherein now he raves, 150 

And all we mourn for. 

King, Do you think 't is this? 

Queen, It may be, very likely. 

Polonius, Hath there been such a time — I'd fain know 
that — 
That I have positively said ' 'T is so,' 
When it prov'd otherwise? 

King, Not that I know. 155 

Polonius, \_Pointing to his head and shoulder^ Take this 
from this, if this be otherwise. 
It circumstances lead me, I will find 
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed 
Within the centre. 

King, How may we try it further ? 

Polonius, You know, sometimes he walks four hours to- 
gether 160 
Here in the lobby. 

Queen, So he does indeed. 

Polonius, At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him : 



Equally good ? — 145. took the fruits of = profited by [Schmidt] ? She 
took the fruits of my advice Avhen she obeyed advice; the advice was 
theu made fruitful [Johnson] ? — 148. watch = a sleepless state [Calde- 
cott] ? insomnia? Scan. Abbott, ^^\y et seq. — 149. lightness = light- 
headed;iess ? — declension. How much of this account by Polonius is 
true ? In what does the humor of the passage consist ? — 151. all we. 
*' A feeling of the unemphatic nature of the nominatives loe and they 
prevents us from saying ' all we.' " Abbott, 240. See Mark xii. 44: " All 
they did cast in of their abundance. — for. Supply the object implied 
in icherein. — 151. 't is this. The quartos followed by Pope and others 
omit 't is. Well? —159. centre = the middle of the palm of the hand 
[Tschischwitz] ? the earth, the centre of the solar system, or of the Ptol- 
emaic universe [Hudson, Clark, and Wright]? the centre of the earth 
[Rolfe] ? Shakespeare, like Bacon, held to the Ptolemaic system ? See 
Midsummer Nic/hVs Dream, III. ii. 54. —160. four hours together was 
a common expression. Four, forty, and forty thousand (as in Y. i. 259) 
were oft-repeated colloquialisms. Any real inconsistency between these 
lines and line II. ii. 292 ? — 162. loose. In what way had she been tied ? 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 81 

Be you and I behind an arras then ; 

Mark the encounter : if he love her not, 

And be not from his reason fall'n thereon, 165 

Let me be no assistant for a state, 

But keep a farm and carters. 

King, We will try it. 

Queen. But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes 
reading. 

Polonius. Away, I do beseech you, both away ; 
I'll board him presently. — 

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Attendants. 

Enter Hamlet, reading. 

O, give me leave ; 170 

How does my good Lord Hamlet ? 

Hamlet. Well, God-a-mercy. 

Polonius. Do you know me, my lord? 

Hamlet. Excellent well ; you are a fishmonger. 

Polonius. Not I, my lord. 175 

Hamlet. Then I would you were so honest a man. 

Polonius. Honest, my lord ! ^ 

Hamlet. Ay, sir ; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be] 
one man picked out of ten thousand. ^ 

Polonius. That 's very true, my lord. 180 

Hamlet. For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, be- 
ing a good kissing carrion, — Have you a daughter? 

Polonius. I have, my lord. 

Is the metaphor like that in I. iii. 125 ? — 163. arras = tapestry hang- 
ings. So caUed from the place of manufacture, Arras, in the North of 
France ? So bayonet, pistoU muslin, damask, curixuit, parchment, cord- 
icainev, etc., from the places noted for their production. — 168. wretch 
was the stongest term of endearment in the language, says Hudson. 
Othello's words illustrate it: ''excellent wretch, perdition catch my 
soul, but I do love thee." Othello, III. iii. 90. — 170. board = accost ? 
address? Metaphor from what? — presently = immediately. This is 
its usual meaning in Shakespeare. See line 578 in this scene. — give 
me leave. To whom does Polonius say this ? — Merchant of Venice, I. i. 
183. — 172. a-merey = have mercy ? or of mercy ? See IV. v. 179. — 171. 
a fishmonger = a dealer in staleness [Weiss]? you deal in wares that 
will not bear the sun [Moberly] ? an angler as well as a dealer in fish. 
Hamlet probably thinks that Polonius has come to fish out his secret 
[Coleridge, Hudson, etc.] ? Is this metaphorical meaning probable ? — 
182. goo'd-kissing = good/o?' kissing [Corson, Caldecott, Hudson, etc.] ? 
AVe would like to read with "VVarburton, Wright, etc., fjod, kissing. But 
the uniform text of the old editions makes very good sense, and what 
right have we to improve upon it ? See Furness. — Are we to regard lines 



82 HAMLET. [act II. 

Hamlet, Let her not walk i' the sun : conception is a bless- 
ing ; but not as your daughter may conceive. — Friend, look 
to'^'t. 186 

Polonhis, [^Aside] How say you by that? Still harping on 
my daughter : yet he knew me not at first ; he said I was a 
fishmonger ; he is far gone, far gone : and truly in my youth 
I suffered much extremity for love ; very near this. I '11 
speak to him again. — ; What do you read, my lord? 191 

Hamlet, Words, words, words. 

Polonius, What is the matter, my lord? 

Hamlet, Between who ? 

Polonius, I mean, the matter that you read, mj^ lord. 195 

Hamlet. Slanders, sir ; for the satirical rogue says here 
that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, 
their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that 
they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak 
hams : all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently 
believe, j^et I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down ; 
for you j^ourself , sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you 
could go backward. / 203 

Polonius, [AskW] (Though this be madness, yet there is 
method in 'tA — Will you walk out of the air, my lord ? 205 

Hamlet. Into my grave ? 

Polonius, Indeed, that is out o' the air. — \_Aside'] How 
pregnant sometimes his replies are ! a happiness that often 

181, 182, as a part of the text that Hamlet is reading ? — 184. conception 
= understanding [Moberly] ? Corson interprets it literally. — 187. say 
you = mean you [Hudson] ? — by that = about that [Abbott, 145] ? Mer- 
chant of Venice, I. ii. 46; 1 Cor. iv. 4. — 193. matter = subject matter? 
Hamlet purposely misunderstands ? — 194. who for ivhom, as often in 
Shakespeare. Abbott, 274. — 196. satirical rogue. Warburton and 
Moberly see a reference to Juvenal, Satire X., 188. The folios have 
slave in place of rogue. Any better? — 198. purging = discharging? 
Lat. piirgdre, puric/are, to make pure; fr. joitrns, pure, and ig weakened 
form of root ag, in agere, to do, make, cause. Skeat. — 199. plentiful 
lack. Shakespearian use of opposed words ? — 201. honesty = Lat. ho- 
nestas, honorableness, honor, right, an honorable act ? — 202. should and 
icoidd were not carefully differentiated. Abbott, 322. So III. ii. 283. — 
you yourself, etc. = you yourself, sir, should be yoking as I am, if, 
etc. [Corson] ? Instead of saying, "I shall some time be as old as you 
are now," Hamlet inverts the statement? If so, why? — 204. method 
in madness has become proverbial. What of Shakespeare's wivsdom as 
evinced by the multitude of proverbs he originates ? — 208. pregnant 
= full of meaning or of pertinency [Hudson]? ready, dexterous, apt 
[Steevens] ? ingenious, full of art or intelligence [Nares] ? big with 
meaning [Caldecott] ? III. ii. 56. Lat. prae, before, and gnare, obso- 
lete, to bear; whence gnatus, or, as usually spelled, natus, born; prv^- 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 83 

madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so pros- 
perously be delivered of. I will leave him, and suddenly 
contrive the means of meeting between him and my daugh- 
ter. — My honorable lord, I will most humbly take my leave 
of you. 

Hamlet, You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I 
will more willingly part withal ; except my life, except my 
life, except my life. 216 

Polonius, Fare you well, my lord. 

Hamlet, These tedious old fools ! 

Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. — 

Polonius, You go to seek the Lord Hamlet ; there he is. 

Rosencrantz, \_To Polonius] God save you, sir! 220 

\_Exit Polonius. 

Guildenstern, My honored lord ! 

Rosencrantz, My most dear lord ! 

Hamlet, My excellent good friends ! How dost thou, 
Guildenstern? — Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye 
both? 225 

Rosencrantz, As the indifferent children of the earth. 

Gidldenstern, Happy, in that we are not over-happy ; 
On Fortune's cap we are not the very button. 

Hamlet. Nor the soles of her shoe ? 

Rosencrantz, Neither, my lord. 230 

Hamlet, Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of 
her favours? What 's the news? 

Rosencrantz, None, my lord, but that the world 's grown 
honest. 234 

Hamlet, Then is doomsday near ; but your news is not 
true. Let me question more in particular ; what have you, 
my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune, that she 
sends you to prison hither? 

Guildenstern, Prison, my lord ! 

Hamlet, Denmark 's a prison. 240 

S'naTis, before a birth. Skeat. — 215. withal; em-phatic for toith, at the 
end of a sentence ? The object is usually a relative pronoun. I. iii. 28. 
Abbott, 196. — 215, 216. Significance of this repetition ? its pathos ? object 
of Hamlet in it ? effect on our sympathy, which might have sided with 
Polonius ? — 223. friends. Does Hamlet mean to emphasize this word, 
and intimate that he prefers it to lord? I. ii. 163, 254. — 226. iiidiflfer- 
eiit = middling, tolerably well off [Hudson, CapeU, etc.] ? — 233, 234. 
grown honest. Do they come to cheer him ? to induce him to acqui- 
esce in the s/Iaiws of affairs ? — 236-265. Let me . . . attended. Not in 



84 HAMLET. [act II. 

Bosencrantz. Then is the world one. 

Hamlet. A goodly one ; in which there are many confines, 
wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst. 

Bosencrantz, We think not so, my lord. 244 

Hamlet. Why, then 't is none to you (for* there is nothing 
either good or bad, but thinking makes ^t^oy to me it is a 
prison. 

Bosencrantz. Why, then your ambition makes it one ; 't is 
too narrow for your mind. 249 

Hamlet. O God, I could be bounded in a nut-shell, and 
count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have 
bad dreams. 

Guildenstern. Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the 
very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a 
dream. 255 

Hamlet. A dream itself is but a shadow. 

Bosencrantz. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and 
light a quality that it is but a shadow's shadow. 

Hamlet. Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs 

and outstretched heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we to 

the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason. 261 

Bosencrantz. ] ^nr m -^ 

ry -n * ^ W e 11 wait upon you. 

Guildenstern. J i' j 

Hamlet. No such matter : I will not sort you with the rest 

of my servants ; for, to speak to you like an honest man, I 

the quartos. Was it worth inserting? — 242. confines = places of con- 
finement? See I. i. 155. Lat. conJiniSj bordering on; con, together, 
JiniSf a boundary. — 246. thinking, etc. A great truth ? See Milton's 
" The mind is its own place," etc., Paradise Lost, I. 254, 255. Moberly 
quotes Lovelace's pretty lines, " Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor 
iron bars a cage," etc. — 254. substance of = object aimed at by ? com- 
ponent material ? — 259. Then are our beggars, etc. = If ambition is 
the shadow of pomp, and pomp the shadow of a man, then the only 
true substantial men are beggars, who are stript of all pomp and ail 
ambition [Moberly] ? Substance and shadow are antithetic and correla- 
tive terms, and Hamlet assumes beggar and king to be so too. As a 
shadow must be cast by some substance, so our beggars are the sub- 
stances antithetic and correlative to the shadows cast by them. All 
which infers that our kings and heroes are but the shadows of our beg- 
gars [Hudson] ? Assume as a postulate that ambition is but a shadow; 
then kings, being ambition incarnate, are but shadows: beggars, being 
the antitliesis of kings, must be solid, substantial, i.e., bodies : shadows 
belong to substances; and so monarchs and heroes are beggars' shad- 
ows. Hamlet half mystifies himself, and says he cannot reason; (here- 
fore he'll go where they don't reason, but eat, dress, and dance ? — out- 
stretched = strained, exaggerated? gigantic, like shadows? strutting 
stage heroes [Delius] ? — 261. fay. Abbreviation of faith; or a corrup- 
tion of Fr. foi [Clark and Wright] ? diminutive of faith [Hudson] ? Lat. 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 85 

am most dreadfully attended. But, in the beaten way of 
friendship, what make you at Elsinore ? 266 

Rosencrantz. To visit you, my lord ; no other occasion. 

Hamlet, Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks ; but 
I thank you : and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear 
a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it your own in- 
clining? Is it a free visitation? Come, deal justly with me : 
come, come ; nay, speak. 272 

Guildenstern, What should we say, my lord? 

Hamlet. Why, any thing, but to the purpose. You were 
sent for ; and there is a kind of confession in your looks 
which your modesties have not craft enough to color. I 
know the good king and queen have sent for you. 

Rosencrantz. To what end, my lord ? 

Hamlet. That you must teach me. But let me conjure 
you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our 
youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by 
what more dear a better proposer could charge you withal, 
be even and direct with me, whether you were sent for, or 
no? 

Rosencrantz. \_Aside to Guildexsterx] What say you? 285 

Hamlet. [_Aside'] Nay, then I have an eye of 3^ou. — If you 
love me, hold not off. 

Guildenstern. My lord, we were sent for. 

Hamlet. I will tell you why ; so shall my anticipation pre- 
vent your discovery, and 3^our secrecy to the king and queen 
moult no feather. I have of late — but wherefore I know not 

fides, faith ; Old Fr. fei ; Early Eng. fey : th was added (making faith) 
to make it analogous with truth, rutli, health, etc. SJceat. — 265. at- 
tended, etc. By bad dreams [Hudson] ? By miserable thoughts [Mo- 
berly] ? My retinue, my service, is detestable [Delius] ? watched by 
spies? — beaten = familiar, unceremonious ? old, usually trod? plain, 
open? — 266. make. See I. ii. 161. — 269. too dear a halfpenny. This 
use of a occurs twice in Chaucer; as, " dere y-nough a jane " {a, jane being 
a coin of Genoa) in the Clerk's Tale of Patient Griselda. Why are his 
thanks too dear? No need of changing a to at? — 271. A^isitation. Is 
there a difference in meaning between this and visit? — 274. bvit = only 
[Staunton] ? only let it be (spoken in sarcasm) [Clark] ? — 276. modes- 
ties. See loves^ I. i. 173; icisdoms, I. ii. 15. — color = conceal, disguise 
[Hudson] ? — 280. consonancy = harmony V Lat. con, with; sojiare, to 
sound; consonans, sounding together with. — youth. See line 11. — 282. 
proposer = speaker, advocate? — 283. even = plain, honest, straight- 
forward? A. S. efen; akin to Dutch even; equal, level. — 286. of = 
upon, after [Caldecott] ? — eye of yovi = glimpse of your meaning 
[Steevens]? II. ii. 27. Abbott,. 174, 175. — 289. prevent = precede, come 
before? Lat. p?'(e, before; venire, to come. — discovery = disclosure ? 
Abbott, 439.-291. moult = shed ? Lat. mutare, to change; Fr. muerj to 



86 HAMLET. - [act II. 

— lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises ; and in- 
deed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly 
frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory ; this 
most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhang- 
ing firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, — - 
why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pesti- 
lent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a 
man 1 how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! in form 
and moving how express and admirable ! in action how like 
an angel ! in apprehension how like a god ! the beauty of the 
world ! the paragon of animals ! And yet, to me, what is 
this quintessence of dust? man delights not me; no, nor 
woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say 
so. 305 

Rosencrantz, My lord, there was no such stuff in my 
thoughts. 

Hamlet, Why did you laugh then, when I said ' man de- 
lights not me ' ? 

Rosencrantz. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, 
what lenten entertainment the players shall receive from you ; 

moult. — 292. exercises, etc. Is he telling the truth? See II. ii. 159; 
V. ii. 200.-294. promontory. Thrust out into the dread ocean of the 
unknown [Moberly] ? A promontory in the ocean of infinite space ? in 
the ocean of eternity? —295. brave = beautiful, grand? Gaelic breagh, 
fine; Swed. bra, good; Scotch braw ; Fr. brave, fine. — 296. firmament. 
The folios omit the word. Is it indispensable ? — fretted = embossed ? 
variegated? adorned? A. S. fraetician, to adorn? or A. S. fretan, to 
eat away ? Fret in architecture is defined as ** an ornament consisting of 
small fillets intersecting each other at right angles." See illustration in 
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary; Cymbeline, II. iv. 88; Paradise Lost, 
I. 717. — 298. congregation. Lat. congregare, to assemble; con, to- 
gether; grex, a flock. The commentators here quote the beautiful 33d 
sonnet of Shakespeare. — a man. So the folios and quartos. Most 
editors omit this a ; wisely ? — 299. faculty. The quartos read fac- 
idties. Prefer. — 300. express = expressive [Schmidt]? exact, fitted to 
its purpose [Clark and Wright] ? See in Hebreios i. 3. — 302. paragon 
= model of excellence? peerless one? perfection? flower? Span. 
para, in comparison, con, with; from Lat. pro, forth, before; ad, to; 
and cum, with. This description is well worth memorizing. — 303. 
quintessence. Lat. quinta, fifth, essentia, essence. In alchemy the 
four elements were earth, air, fire, and water. To these they added 
a fifth, gether, highest and subtlest of all. — JEther or ether is from 
Greek atOeLv, aithein, to burn, glow, and was perhaps something like 
light, heat, or electricity? — 304. smiling. What did Rosencrantz really 
smile at? Does he tell the truth in line 306? — 311. lenten = meagre, 
poor, sparing? appropriate to the forty days' fast beginning with Ash 
Wednesday? A. S. lenten, the spring. Supposed to' be derived from 
A. S., Dutch, and Ger. lang,*\ong. because in spring the days lengthen; 
this is possible, but not certain. . . The suffix -en is not adjectival. 



I 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 87 

we coted them on the way, and hither are they coming to 
offer you service. 313 

Hamlet, He that plays the king shall be welcome ; his 
majesty shall have tribute of me ; the adventurous knight 
shall use his foil and target ; the lover shall not sigh gratis ; 
the humorous man shall end his part in peace ; the clown 
shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o' the sere ; 
and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse 
shall halt for 't. What players are they? 

Rosencrantz. Even those you were wont to take delight in, 
the tragedians of the city. 322 

Hamlet, How chances it they travel? their residence, both 
in reputation and profit, was better both ways. 

Rosencrantz, I think their inhibition comes by the means 
of the late innovation. 326 

Skeat. — '^\2. coted = overtook [Steevens, etc.]? passed by, outstripped 
[Rolfe, etc.] ? i)ressed them side by side, like greyhounds coursing a 
hare [Moberly] V Rosen, and Guilden. overtook and passed the players, 
and came first to the palace ? Probably from Lat. costa^ rib; whence 
Fr. cote, side; cotoyer, to go by the side of, coast along? — 316. humor- 
ous = fretful, capricious, crotchety? ''Not the funny man, or jester," 
says Staunton. See note on II. ii. 12. — 318. tickle o' the sere = tickled 
not by his jokes, but by a dry cough [White]? — " Lombard (1596) . . . 
says, Even as a pistole that is ready charged and bent will file off by- 
and-by [i.e., instantly], if a man do but touch the seare," Quoted by 
Furness from Nicholson in Notes and Queries, July, 1871. Sere is a bar 
or balance lever, a sort of pawl, stop-catch, or ratchet. Tickle is tick- 
lish, delicate, sensitive to the touch. — From tick, akin to take., but weak- 
er in sound and meaning. (Little things are appropriately expressed by 
corresponding little sounds?) In old match-lock muskets the sear and 
trigger were in one i^iece. Tickle o' the se?'e = like a hair-trigger, explod- 
ing into laughter at the slightest provocation ? This is one of many 
passages showing Shakespeare's minute military knowledge ? Was he 
ever a soldier? Fr. serrer, to grasp, press, lock; 'serre, claw, talon of 
birds (from its grip ?); hence sear, the catch in a gun-lock by which it is 
held cocked or half-cocked. — 319. lady, etc. = The lady shall mar the 
measure of the verse, rather than not express herself freely or fully 
[Henderson] ? If the lady, through affectation or delicacy, should 
suppress any thing, her omission will be detected in the lameness of 
the metre [Se3^mour] ? — 323. residence = remaining in the city? — 325, 
326. inhibition . . . innovation. Johnson would transpose these two 
words, and interpret innovation as new practice of strolling. Hudson 
adopts the suggestion, and says of inhibition, "Referring, no doubt, to 
an order of the Privy Council issued in June, 1600. By this order the 
players were inhibited from acting in or near the city during the season 
of Lent, . . . and hence ' chances it they travel,' or stroll into the 
country." Dowden says, "Does Rosencrantz allude to the Order in 
Council of June, 1600, limiting the number of playhouses to two? . . . 
Or shall we understand the ' innovation ' as referring to the license 
given January, 1603-1604, to the children of the Queen's Revels to play 
at the Blackfriars' Theatre, — a building belonging to the company of 
which Shakesx^eare was a member ? The license to the children ! . . 



88 HAMLET, [act II. 

Hamlet, Do they hold the same estimation they did when 
I was in the city? are they so followed? 

Rosencrantz. No, indeed, are they not. 

Hamlet, How comes it? do they grow rusty? 330 

Rosencrantz, Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted 
pace ; but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, that 
cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically 
clapped for 't : these are now the fashion, and so berattle 
the common stages — so they call them — that many wearing 
rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and dare scarce come 
thither. 337 

Hamlet, What, are they children? who maintains 'em? 
how are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no 

would act as an inliibition to the company of adult actors whose place 
they occupied." See Furness. — Inhibition, from Lat. inhibere, to have 
in hand, to check ; in, in; and habere, to have. —332. aery = a brood of 
nestlings (literallj^ an eagle's or a hawk's nest) [Roife, etc.] ? Icel. ari, 
an eagle; 'probably from root ak, to raise one's self. Gr. opvt?, a bird; 
Lat. oriri, to rise. " When fairly imported into English, the word was 
ingeniously connected with Middle-English ey, an egg, as if the word 
meant an egg-enj : hence it came to be spelt eyrie or eyry, and to be 
misinterpreted accordingly." Skeat. — eyases = unfledged hawks, nest- 
lings ? The performance of these young eyases was the innovation 
alluded to [White] ? " From the Fr^ niais, which Cotgrave explains as 
* nestling.' The initial n is dropped by mistake." Clark and Wright. — 
333. top of question = top of their voices [Steevens, Rolfe, etc.]? in a 
high key [Clark and Wright]? very height of conversation [Elze] ? — 
cry out, etc. =crow over, or challenge all comers to a contention [Staun- 
ton] ? To cry in the top = to assume superiority [White] ? — Cry out 
on the top of question = exclaim against those who are at the top of 
their ]3rofession [Hudson] ? As ''question "sometimes meant torture, 
Wellesley interprets thus: cry out as one might do on the rack. See 
Fiirness. Moberly thus paraphrases: "What brings down the profes- 
sional actors is the* competition of a nest of young hawks (the boys of 
the Chapel Royal, etc.), who carr^^ on the whole dialogue without mod- 
ulation, at the top of their voices, get absurdly applauded for it, and 
make such a noise on the common stage that true dramatists, whose wit 
is as strong and keen as a rapier, are afraid to encounter these chits, who 
fight, as it were, with a goose-quill." — tyrannically = vehemently, vo- 
ciferousl}'-, extravagantly [Rolfe, etc.] ? So as to put down all adverse 
opinions? — 334. berattle = berate, squib [Hudson, who quotes an in- 
teresting paraphrase of the passage from Mr. Joseph Crosby]? — 335. 
common stages = public theatres ? — many wearing = many grown- 
up men wearing [Crosby] ? — 336. goose-quills == the penny-a-liners 
[who write] for the boys [Joseph Crosby, approved by Hudson] ? those 
little eyases [Meiklejohn] ? — 337. thither = to the playhouse [Hudson 
and Crosby] ? — 339. escoted = paid [Dyce, Hudson, etc.]? paid for 
[Clark and Wright] ? A. S. sceotan, to shoot ; scot, stem of past partici- 
ple of sceotan. The literal sense is " contribution," that which is " shot " 
into the general fund. Skeat. The word not found elsewhere in Shake- 
speare. The phrase sco^/?'ee==free from payment, or " scot." — quality 
= profession ? So Chettle (1592) says of Shakespeare, '•' Myself have seen 
his demeanor, no less civil than he is excellent in the quality he pro- 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 89 

longer than they can sing? will they not say afterwards, if 
they should grow themselves to common players — as it is most 
like, if their means are no better — their writers do them 
wrong to make them exclaim against their own succession ? 

Bosencrantz. Faith, there has been much to-do on both 
sides, and the nation holds it no sin to tarre them to contro- 
versy ; there was for a while no money bid for argument, 
unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in the question. 

Hamlet, Is 't possible ? 

Ouildenstern, O, there has been much throwing about of 
brains. 3j0 

Hamlet, Do the boys carr}- it away ? 

Bosencrantz. Ay, that they do, my lord ; Hercules and his 
load too. 

Hamlet. It is not very strange ; for mine uncle is king of 

f esses." Gifford says that the word '' quality," in the old writers, seems 
particularly applied to the calling of the actor. See line 418. — 340. can 
sing. When their boy-voices change, they cannot sing. — Ml. common 
= strolling [Staunton] ? of the usual sort ? — 343. exclaim against, etc. 
=run down the profession to which they are themselves to succeed 
[Hudson]? exclaim against what they are themselves to he ? — succes- 
sion = futurity [Schmidt] ? future (as substantive) ? Mr. Joseph Crosby 
suggests that a contest was waging between those who wrote parts for 
the bo3"-players, and those w^ho wrote for " the common stages." — 344. 
to-do = ado [Schmidt, etc.] ? Middle English (i. e., about A.D. 1200 to 
1500) at do (meaning to do) was shortened in course of time to ado, in 
one word, and regarded as a substantive. In Icelandic and other Scan- 
dinavian tongues, the sign of the infinitive is at. Skeat. — 345. tarre = 
set on (to fight) ; used literally of dogs in Shakespeare's Kim/ John, IV. 
1. 117, and Troihis and Cressida, I. iii. 392. Grant White Tnoi.-^o ^- -^ 
A. S. tyrian, to excite or incite, and suspects that the v 
to it. Ben Jonson says that the letter /* is ''the dog's 1 . 
[snarleth] in the sound," and perhaps the word origi/i 
of the sound of a dog snarling. Wedf/wood. — 346. ar 
the play [Delius, etc.] ? Subject-matter or plot of the 
plaj^ itself [Hudson] ? Lat. arguere, to make clear ; 
matter which lies at the basis of a composition, the t 
the subject-matter. Root akg, to shine. See III. ii. 21 ■ ^ _^.... ,, x r ., xx. 
iv. 260. — unless, etc. =unless the dialogue (the "question") is well 
seasoned with warfare, *' cuffs" [Delius]? unless both the "eyases" 
and the "goose-quills" (that is, the boy-actors and their writers) in 
their dialogue, went to abusing or berating the authors and actors of 
the "common stages" [Hudson]? "See III. ii. 35 to 41, where the 
same {sic) contest between actor and dramatist is spoken of." Moberly. 
— 349, 350. throwing, etc. = bandying of wit, or pelting each other with 
words [Hudson] ? sharp and nice "discussion [Caldecott] ? — 351. carry- 
it away = carry off the palm [Wright, Kolfe, etc.] ? carry all the world 
before them [Hudson]? — 352. Hercules, etc. Probable allusion to 
the Globe Theatre, "the sign of which was Hercules carrying the 
globe"? — 354. not very strange, etc. "I do not wonder that the 
new players have so suddenly risen in reputation : my uncle supplies 
another example of the facility with which honor is conferred on new 



90 HAMLET, [t II. 

Denmark, and those that would make mows at him wL j^iy 
father lived give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred .^^Xs 
apiece for his picture in little. 'Sblood, there is some^ii^o- 
in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it oui 

[^Flourish of trumpets wi^^^ 

Guildenstern, There are the players. 359 

Hamlet, Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. ^)ur 
hands, come ; the appurtenance of welcome is fashion nd 
ceremony : let me comply with you in this garb, lest my^x- 
tent to the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly qt- 
ward, should more appear like entertainment than yoi-g. 
You are welcome ; but my uncle- father and aunt-mother re 
deceived. >/^ 

Guildenstern, In what, my dear lord? 

Hamlet, I am but mad north-north-west ; when the wild 
is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw. 

claimants." Johnson. Is Johnson's explanation sufficient ? — 355. mows 
= grimaces ? mouths? Old Dutch mouwe, the protruded under-lip, 
allied to mock; from imitative root m?/, to make a muttered sound' 
Skeat. Tempest, lY. 1. 47 ; II. ii. 9. — 356. ducats. The silver ducat 
was about one dollar; the gold, two. — 357. in little = in miniature 
[Steevens, etc.] ? Does he allude to such pictures worn by Rosencrantz 
and Guildenstern ? — 'Sblood = God's blood ; i. e., the blood of Christ. 
One of the modes of swearing by the eucharist. The word is omitted 
in the folio ; why ? See note on II. i. 76. See II. i. 50 ; ii. 514; III. ii. 
345. In Borneo and Juliet^ III. v. 175, it is '* God's bread." — 361. appur- 
tenance = proj^er accompaniment [Clark and Wright, etc.]? From 
appertain; Fr. apioartenir ; Lat. pertinerey to pertain; per^ through, 
thoroughly ; and tenere, to hold. — 362. comply with = be /orma% civil 
or polite to, or to compjliment [Hudson] ? embrace [Singer] ? compliment 
[White, Steevens, etc.] ? fraternize or conjoin with [Staunton] ? com- 
ply with you in this fashion = use ceremony with you in this fashion 
[Clark and Wright] ? So V, ii. 179 ? Shall we pronounce it com-pli/ or 
com'plp f Comply is really a doublet of complete. Lat. complere, to fill up, 
satisfy ; Ital. complire, to fulfil ; also, to use compliments, ceremonies, 
or kind offices and offers. Skeat. — extent = behaAior, deportment 
[Schmidt]? extension of courtesy and civility [Hudson] V degree of 
courtesy dealt out [Caldecott] ? condescension [Clark and Wright] ? 
elaborate kindliness [Meiklejohn] ? It appears to mean conduct 
in Ticelfth Night, IV. i. 53, ''This uncivil and unjust extent." — 
368. north-north-w^est, etc. A wild hawk or heron, frightened by 
a falconer or his dog, flies with the wind, not against it. About 
half-past ten a.m., a likely time for hawking, the bird, if the wind were 
north-north-west, would fly tov/ards the sun, which would blind 
the fowler's eye. But if the wind were southerly, the bird would fly 
north, and the falconer, with undazzled vision, could easily distinguish 
a hawk from another fowl. J. C. Heath, Cambridge, Eng. Interpreta- 
tion sufficient? Meaning, stripped of metaphor ? Francke, quoted by 
Furness {Var. Edition), gives the following explanation, which amuses 
Rolfe : "Great, powerful tempests in the moral world, apparitions 
from the mysterious Hereafter, can make me mad, . . . but such people 
as you are ... I have yet wit enough to elude." — 369. handsaw. 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 91 

Enter Polonius. 

Folonius, Well be with you, gentlemen ! 370 

Hamlet. Hark you, Guildenstern ; — and you too; — at 
each ear a hearer : that great baby you see there is not yet 
out of his swaddling-clouts. 

Rosencrantz. Happily he 's the second time come to them ; 
for they say/'an old man is twice a child/ 375 

Hamlet, 1 will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players : 
mark it. — You say right, sir: o' Monday morning ; 'twas 
so indeed. 

Polonius, My lord, I have news to tell you. 

Hamlet, My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius 
was an actor in Rome, — 381 

Polonius, The actors are come hither, my lord. 

Hamlet, Buz, buz ! 

Polonius, Upon mine honor, — 

Hamlet, Then came each actor on his ass, — 385 

Polonius, The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, 
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pas- 
toral, tragical-historical, tragical- comical-historical-pastoral, 
scene individable, or poem unlimited : Seneca cannot be too 

Says Rolfe, ** A writer in Notes and Queries , with evident ' fellow-feel- 
ing,' suggests anser " (Latin for goose) in place of handsaio. Handschuh 
(German for glove) has been suggested ! White says, "There was . . . 
a hooked cutting tool called a hciivk " ! Handsale in this passage is gen- 
erally supposed to be a corruption of heronshaiv (young heron), which i'' 
itself a corruption of heronsew, a name still common in Lincoi--^ ' 
Yorkshire. White remarks, that " I know a hawk froi 
an alliterative folk-phrase, like " B from a bull's foot ; ' 
that, in popular use, the original meaning was lost. I 
ness. — 'dlO. well. Chaucer, in the Nun's Priest's Tale 
loved hir so that well was him therewith." A. S. iveL 
from A. S. adverb loel, suitably to one's icill; akin i 
j3ouA-o/xai, I wish. — 373. swaddling. The folios have siva. 
clouts. Irish and Gaelic, chid, a rag, patch, piece of clot ^.^. Hap- 

pily =^ perhaps, haply? fortunately? See I. i. 134. Icel. /i«pp = hap, 
chance, good luck ; A. S.gehaep, = ^t. — Abbott, ^2. — 377. You say right, 
etc. Throwing dust in Polonius' eyes ? — 380. Roscius, the most cele- 
brated comic actor of Rome, friend of Cicero, who greatly admired him. 
Died B.C. 62.? Humor in this passage ? — 383. Buz = mere idle talk 
[Johnson] ? interjection, to interrupt Polonius [Steevens] ? interjection 
at Oxford when one began a stale story [Blackstone] ? all a mere buzz- 
ing or rumor [Hudson] ? A directly imitative word in its origin ? See 
V! i. 190. Moberly cites Macbeth, IV. iii. 175. — 385. Then came, etc. 
A quotation ? — on his ass. Supposed by some to be responsive to iipoii 
my honor! as if Polonius were thoroughly asinine ? — 389. individable 
= observing the unity of place [Delius] ? undivided into scenes, and so 
like Greek tragedy [Hudson] ? not to be distinguished by a particular 
appellation, as tragedy, comedy, etc. [Schmidt and Bolfe] ? — unlim- 



92 HAMLET. [act II. 

heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the 
liberty, these are the only men. 391 

Hamlet. O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure 
hadst thou? 

Polonius. What a treasure had he, my lord? 

Hamlet. Why, 

^ One fair daughter, and no more, 395 

The which he loved passing well.' 

Polonius. \^Aside'\ Still on my daughter. 

Hamlet. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah? 

Polonms. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a 
daughter that I love passing well. 400 

Hamlet. Nay, that follows not. 

Polonius. What follows, then, my lord? 

Hamlet. Why, 

' As by lot, God wot,' 
and then, you know, 

' It came to pass, as most like it was,' — 
the first row of the pious chanson will show you more ; for 
look, where my abridgments come. — 408 

ited = undefined [Schmidt and Rolfe] ? extemporized [Tschischwitz] ? 
unrestricted as to unity of place? undivided into scenes? The three 
iiniiies in the Greek drama were of action, time, and place; i.e., there 
should be but one main plot, the time supposed should not exceed 
twenty-four hours, and the place of the action should be one and the 
same throughout tlie piece. Is the humorous characterization by Polo- 
nius a fair description of the mixed drama of Shakespeare V — Seneca 
(who died by Nero's order A.D. 65) was famous as a tragic writer ; and 
Plautus (who died B.C. 184) was equally noted for comedy. Their 
plays were often acted at the English universities. — 390. law of writ, 
etc. == adhering to the text, or extemporizing when need requires [jNIo- 
berly, etc.] ? observing dramatic rules while taking allowable liberties 
[CaldecottJ ? The quarto of 1676 reads ivit for icrit. More distinct or 
more satisfactory ? — Corson jDrefers to put a period after libertij, and a 
slight pause, or none, before for, referring Icno and liberty respectively 
to heavy and light, and, to bring out the meaning, changing the order 
to the law and the liberty of writ, i. e. writing. " The meaning prob- 
ably is," saj's White, " that the players were good, whether at written 
productions or at extemporal plays." — 392. Jephthah, ninth judge of 
the Israelites, from 1256 to 1250 B.C. ? See Jvdf/es xi. 30-40 ; Tennyson's 
Dream of Fair Women. Percy's Reliques gives the song from which 
Hamlet quotes. — 394. a in this question by Polonius is thought by most 
to be an interpolation. — 401. that follows = that conclusion follows? 
or that lanr/uaf/e follows in the song? — 406. It came to pass. "As 
he had a daughter, of course he got into a scrape," is the inference sug- 
gested [Moberly] ? 407. row = line V stanza? — pious chanson = ballad 
containing Scripture history [Steevens] ? See Fiirness for the reading 
pious chanson, and comments thereon. Fr. chanson, song ; Lat. cantdre, 
to sing, chant. — 408. my abridgment (folios), abridgments (quartos), 
= pastime that makes me brief [Schmidt]? players that by coming 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 93 

Enter four or five Players. 
You are welcome, masters ; welcome, all. I am glad to see 
ye well. Welcome, good friends. — O, my old friend! thy 
face is valanced since I saw thee last ; comest thou to beard 
me in Denmark? — What, my young lady and mistress! 
By 'r lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I saw 
you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Pray God, j^our voice, 
like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the 
ring. — Masters, you are all welcome. We '11 e'en to 't like 
French falconers, fly at any thing we see ; we '11 have a 
speet^h straight. Come, give us a taste of your quality ; 
come, a passionate speech. 

1 Player, What speech, my lord? 420 

Hamlet, I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was 

never acted ; or, if it was, not above once, for the play, I 

shorten my talk [Eolfe, etc.] ? '' A double sense. The players by en- 
tering abridge his talk. Technically, also, 'abridgment' means adra- 
matic performance." Clark and Wright. " By abridgment Shakespeare 
may mean a dramatic performance, which crowds the events of years 
into a few hours." Steevens. See line 509. Lat. ahhreviare, to shorten. 
Abbreviation is a doublet. Nothing to do with bridge ? — 411. valanced 
= fringed ? " Valance, a fringe of drapery, now applied to a part of the 
bed-hangings. . . . Probably named from Valens in France . . . where 
silk is made even to this day." Skeat. II. ii. 163. Lat. valentia = the 
strong town ; valere, to be strong. The folios read valiant, which some 
retain. — beard explains valanced. ; and to beard is explained in line 558 ? 
412. young lady. Female joarts were acted by boys in Shakespeare's 
time. So Cleopatra foresees herself represented by a boy on the s^- 
" I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boij my greatness." A->-' 
Cleopatra, V. ii. 219, 220. The first woman player on the "^ 
personated Desdemona in December, 1660? See Furnt 
by our, and pronounced beer, according to Walker. — la« 
Virgin? — 414. chopine (spelled in the folios choppine), 
shoe, clog, or patten, formerly worn hj ladies, to raise ti. 
ground." Webster. Furness tells uSj'^that in 1856, at a Jca. 
in Jerusalem, the bride wore chopines at least ten inches L ^r 

were sometimes eighteen. See Furness. Spelled also chiopj^ ., and 
then pronounced chop-peen', in Webster. Span, chapin ; Ital. cioppino, 
a high cork-shoe ; perhaps akin to Ital. zocco and Lat. soccus. — 415. 
cracked within the ring. A coin cracked from the edge to a point 
within the ring which encircled the sovereign's head, was uncurrent. 
Paronomasia in cracked and ring? — 416. like French falconers = ca- 
priciously and indiscriminately [Capell, Wright, etc.] ? boldly and spir- 
itedly? "^Sir Thomas Brown (1605-1682) says that *'the French seem to 
have been the first and noblest falconers in Europe ; " and he mentions 
a falcon of Henry of Navarre that struck down '*a buzzard, two wild 
geese, divers kites, a crane, and a swan." — 418. straight = straight- 
way ? See III. iv. 1 ; Mer. of Venice, I. iii. 164. — quality = profession ? 
peculiar power, or particular capacity or merit ? See line 338 ; Mer. of 
Venice, IV. i. 175. Lat. qualis, of what sort, eow constituted ; qiialitas, 
quality, property. —421. me. Ethical dative, as in II. i. 7 ? V. i. 158 ; 



94 HAMLET, [act II. 

remember, pleased not the million ; 't was caviare to the 
general ; but it was — as I received it, and others, whose 
judgments in such matters cried in the top of mine — an 
excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down with as 
much modesty as cunning. I remember, one said there were 
no sallets in the lines to make the matter savory, nor no 
matter in the phrase that might indict the author of affecta- 
tion ; but called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, 
and by very much more handsome than fine. One speech in 
it I chiefly loved : 't was JEneas' tale to Dido ; and there- 
about of it especially, where he speaks of Priam's slaughter. 
If it live in your memory, begin at this line ; let me see, let 
me see — 435 

The rugged Pyrrhus, Uke the Hyrcanian beast, — 

't is not so : — it begins with ' Pyrrhus.' 

McEtznei%T1.2\l. — 423. caviare (Fr. caviar; Ital. caviaro : Turk, hav- 
yar), a Russian condiment of sturgeons' roes pickled ; in Shakespeare's 
time, a new and fashionable delicacy, not obtained or relished by the 
vulgar. Nares. Metaphorical meaning? — general = common people, as 
in Julius Coisar, II. i. 12 V — 425. cried in the top of mine = were better 
than mine [Hudson] ? = were higher than mine [Johnson, Schmidt, etc.] ? 
were more clamorously delivered than mine [Steevens]? A metaphor 
from the hunting field, where a dog is said to overtop when he out-barks 
the rest ; but it is the superior weight of the judgments, not loudness of 
voice, that is here meant [Henley, Clark and Wright, etc.]? — 427. sal- 
lets = impertinent high seasoning or false brilliancy [Hudson] ? salt 
(ribald) words and allusions [Dyce]? — Sallet is a corruption of salad? 
Ital. salato is defined by Florio (who published an Italian Dictionary in 
1597, and is supposed by some to be ridiculed by Shakespeare as Holo- 
fernes, and who died in 1625), " salt, powdered, sow^sed, pickled, salted." 
Lat. sal, salt. —429. Indict = accuse [Rolf e, etc.] ? convict [Steevens] ? 
Old Fr. endicter, to indict, accuse, impeach ; Low Lat. indictare, to ac- 
cuse ; Lat. in and dicere, to speak. — affectation. The quartos read affec- 
tion. In the same sense? — 431. handsome = having genuine, natural 
beauty [Delius] ? fine = having artistic, labored beauty [Delius] ? Hand- 
some (from hand) originally meant dexterous, able, adroit, afterwards 
comely ; fine (from Lat. finitus, brought [by art ?] to- an end, finished, ac- 
complished) has here something of the sense of loaded with ornament, 
or aiming at show? — 432. thereabout. "Used as a substantive, like 
ivhereaboiit in Machethy II. i. 58 " [Clark and Wright] ? *' Thereabout of 
it seems to be merely = there. We might now say colloquially : I liked 
that speech — there"^ especially where," etc. [Rolfe] ? — -^neas ... 
Dido. See the second book of the JEneid, or consult any classical dic- 
tionary.— 433. Priam's. See Virgil's ^neid, II. 506-559. — 436. Pyr- 
rhus, son of Achilles. See Smith's Class. Diet. On the question whetitier 
the description that follows (lines 436-504) is sublime or ridiculous, 
superb or bombastic, the Shakespearians are divided. Pope thought 
it purely ironical ; Coleridge pronounced it superb. Some have re- 
garded it as part of an old play by some other author. Select from it 
what you think is good, or the reverse. Remember, the diction is that 
of epic narrative rather than dramatic dialogue. The style should be 
grand rather than conversational ? — See Furness. Hyrcanian beast = 



SCENE IT.] HAMLET. 95 

The rugize'l Pyrrhns, he whose sable arms, 

Black as his purpose, did the night resemble 

When he lay couched in the ominous horse, 440 

Hath now this dread and black complexion smear' d 

With heraldry more dismal: head to foot 

Xow is he total gules; horridly trick' d 

With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, 

Bak'd and impasted with the parching streets, 445 

That lend a tyrannous and damned light 

To their lord's murder. Roasted in wrath and fire. 

And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore, 

With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus 

Old grandsire Priam seeks. 450 

So, proceed you. 

Poloniits, Tore God, my lord, well spoken, with good 
accent and good discretion. 

1 Player, Anon he finds him 

Striking too short at Greeks ; his antique sword, 455 

Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls. 

Repugnant to command: unequal match' d, 

Pyrrhus at Priam drives ; in rage strikes wide ; 

But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword 

The unnerv'd father falls. Then senseless Ilium, 460 

Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top 

Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash 

Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear ; for, lo ! his sword, 

Which was declining on the milky head 

Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick: 465 

So, as a painted t^Tant, Pyrrhus stood, 

" the Hj^rcan tiger " of Macbeth, III. iv. 101. Hyrcania was a province of 
ancient Persia, on the south and south-east of the Caspian. Shakespeare 
had probably read Virgil's '' Hj/rcanoiqne admorunt vbera tigi^es,'' and 
Hyrcaniari tigers gave (thee) suck, yEneid, lY. 367 ? How much classi- 
cal learning had Shakespeare ? — 440. horse. The vast wooden struc- 
ture that proved fatal to Troy. JEneid^ II. 13-20, and passim. — 442. 
heraldry = blazonry of arms or armorial ensigns ? — 443. gules. "This 
signifies red in the barbarous jargon of heraldry." Steevens. "This 
word is nothing but the plural of Fr. giieide, the mouth. . . . Lat. 
f/vla, throat." Skeat ; who adds that the reference is probably to the 
color of the (heraldic) lion. — The inside color of a wild beast's throat. 
Moberhj. — tricked = adorned ? colored? delineated in heraldry? — 445. 
impasted = made into a paste. Not elsewhere in Shakespeare. —448. 
o'er-sized. Size is weak glue. Ital. sisa ; from Lat. assidere, to sit at 
or near. We speak of '' making a thing sit." Skeat. —449. carbuncles 
= glowing coals? or bright glowing gems? So Milton, Par. Lost, IX. 
500? Lat. carbuncidus, a little coal, diminutive of carbo, coal, live coal. 

— 452. Fore. A. S./o?'e, for ; before. — 445. too short, etc. This is im- 
plied in Virgil's yEneid, II. 544-546.-459. But with = merely with 
[Delius]? — 4()0-462. Ilium . . . flaming . . . base. yEneid,lI.62^,62o. 

— 4()4. declining. Peculiar use? See Troilus and Ores., IV. v. 189.— 
milky = white [Rolfe, etc.] ? weak [Schmidt] ? Which ? — 466. painted 
tyrant. Macduff proposed to paint and exhibit Macbeth 's likeness ; 



% HAMLET. [act II. 

And, like a: neutral to his will and matter, 

Did nothing. 

But, as we often see, against some storm, 

A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still, 470 

The bold winds speechless, and the orb below 

As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder 

Doth rend the region ; so, after Pyrrhus' pause, 

Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work. 

And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall 475 

On Mars's armor forg'd for proof eterne 

With less' remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword 

Now falls on Priam. 

Out, out, thou strumpet. Fortune ! All you gods, 

In general synod, take away her power; 480 

Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel. 

And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven 

As low as to the fiends! 

Macbeth, Y. 8, 25-27. Tremendous pictures of hideous tyrants with 

brandished swords were not uncommon on old tapestry. — 467. neutral 

= one indifferent [Clark and Wright]? unable to resolve [Moberly] ? 

taking no part in the contest [Schmidt] ? Neutral is opposed to loyal in 

Macbeth, II. iii. 91. — matter = that on which his will is to be exercised 

[Moberly] ? — 468. Why this shortness of verse ? Abbott, 512, p. 425. —470. 

rack = a mass of vapory clouds [Dyce] ? highest and lightest clouds 

[Hudson] ? drifting clouds ? In origiix the same word with icrack, and 

allif^''' *" ck, as we still say, " rack and ruin " ? See note II. i. 113 ; 

i. 156; and the "33d sonnet of Shakespeare. — 472. hush. 

ion (or verb?) become an adjective? So whist, in Tempest, 

in Milton's Nativity Ode. Skeat says, " the word is purely 

^^ it? — 473. region = air? See Sonnet 33 ; also line 565 

n Par. Lost, VII. 425, the fowls '' wing the region.'' Lat. 

king) ; root rag, to stretch, to govern ; Gr. hpiyui, orego, 

reach ; Lat. reqio, direction ; rule ; district ; division 

. xxcctvens marked out by the Roman augurs. — 474. a-work = at 

work ? Abbott, 24. The expression recurs in 2 Henry IV., IV. iii. 105. — 

475. Cyclops'. The Cyclopes, assistants of the blacksmith god Vulcan, 
forged armor for gods and heroes under Mount Etna. See Class. Diet. — 

476. 3Iars's. The quartos have Marses. The apostrophe (introduced 
when?) takes the place of the e? The folios have Mars his. Whence 
came the his in such cases ? — eterne. Lat. oivum, age ; Gr. alu)v, aion, 
lifetime, (Bon ; Gr. det, aei, always. The suffix -ternus indicates quality? 
Chaucer uses eterne for eternal. So Shakespeare in Macbeth, III. ii. 38, 
— proof = resisting-power, impenetrability? Lat. probare, to prove; 
Fr. prouver ; Old Fr. prover, to prove, try. — 477. remorse = pity 
[Wright], Rolfe, etc.]? pain or anguish for guilt? Relenting, pity, is 
its usual meaning in Shakespeare. Eolfe on 3fer. of Ven., IV. i. 20.— 
479. Fortune has a wheel, to signify, according to Fluellen in Henry 
v.. III. vi. 31, 32, "that she is turning, and inconstant, and mutability 
and variation." — 472. synod is used six times in Shakespeare; five 
times of an assembly of the gods. Rolfe. In Paradise Lost, IT. 391, Beel- 
zebub, addressing the council of fallen angels, calls them ** Synod of 
gods." Gr. a-vv, sun, together : 6669, hodos, a way, a coming. — 481. fel- 
lies = pieces of the rim of a wheel. The outer ends of the spokes are in 
the felly (spelled also/e/Zoe); the inner ends, in the nave? A. ^.felf/v, a 
felly ; feolan, to stick ; Old High Ger. felahan, to put together ; Mid. 
Eng. (about 1200 to lbOO'>)felwe, felly or felloe. —482. nave. A. S. nafu; 



SCENE n.] HAMLET. 97 

Polonius, This is too long,^, 484 

Hamlet, It shall to the barber's, with your beard. — Pri- 
thee, say on: — he 's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he 
sleeps. — Say on ; come to Hecuba. 

1 Player, But who, O, w^ho had seen the mobled queen — 

Hamlet. ' The mobled queen ? ' 

Polonius. That's good ; ' mobled queen ' is good. 490 

1 Player. Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames 

With bisson rheum ; a clouf about that head 

Where late the diadem stood ; and for a robe, 

About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins, 

A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up; 495 

Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep' d, 

'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronoune'd: 

But if the gods themselves did see her then. 

When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport 

In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs, 500 

The instant burst of clamor that she made — 

Unless things mortal move them not at all — 

Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven 

And passion in the gods. 

Sanskrit Jidbhi, from nabh, to burst ; whence sense of swelling or pro- 
jection; and from same root nebula, nimbus, etc. Dryden in 1679 criti- 
cised savagely the whole of this remarkable speech, supposing it not to 
be Shakespeare's. — 485. Prithee = pray thee, I pray thee. —shall = 
shall go. See Abbott, 405. —48(5. jis? = facetious ballad [Schmidt] ? bal- 
lad or ditty sung to the fiddle [Hudson] ? a lively tune or dance [Skeat] ? 
— Ital. giga, a fiddle ; allied to Mid. Eng. gigge (a whirling thing, whirl- 
igig), and to Scandinavian giq, what easilv whirls or twirls. Skeat. — 
III. ii. 108. — 488. mobled- veiled [Warburton, etc.] ? muflled [White] ? 
mol)-led, led by a mob, 'magna comitante caterva (a great throng accom- 
panying) [Upton] ? hastily or carelessly dressed [Hudson] ? To mob 
or mab is still used in the North of England for to dress in a slatternly 
manner. Hudson. Mob-cap = morning-cap, an imitation of a night-cap. 
Coleridge. Dutch moppen, to wrap up. — 409. that's good. Why does 
Polonius say so ? To make up for his blunder in objecting to the length 
[Moberly] ? Because it is a quaint and fantastical word [Warburton] ? 
Because it was archaic [Clark and Wright] ? — 492. bisson rheum = 
blinding tears [Schmidt, etc.] ? A. S. bisen may be a corruption of 
hisednd, near-sighted. Skeat. See Coriolanus, it. i. 59. Rheum, Gr. 
pevixa, rheuma, a flow^; from peetv, to flow. Shakespeare uses it many 
times in sense of tears. — 494. over-teemed = o'er-fruitful ? A. S. 
tyman, to teem, team, a progeny; Mid. Eng. temen, to produce. Hecuba, 
wife of Priam, was mother of Hector and how many other children ?-- 
500. mincing = chopping small? cutting to pieces? A. S. 97i/;i, small. 
Suffix -s = to make. Hence mins would mean to make small ; akin to 
Lat. min-or, less. Skeat. Timon of Athens, IV. iii. 121. — 501. instant, as 
in I. Vo 71? —503. milch = moist '[Staunton] ? milk-giving, a metaphor 
for tearful [Rolfe] ? — made milch = filled with tears [Hudson]? A 
weakened form of milk. Its use as adjective, meaning milk-giving, is 
Scandinavian. Teutonic base mai.k, to stroke. Gr. aixaXyetv, amalgein ; 
Lat. mulgere, to milk. Skeat. — eyes. What ? — 504. passion = compas- 



98 HAMLET, [act TT. 

Polonius, Look, whether he has not turned his color and 
has tears in 's eyes. — Pray you, no more. 50g 

Hamlet. 'T is well, I'll have thee speak out the rest soon. 
— Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? 
Do you hear, let them be well used, for^they are the abstract 
and brief chronicles of the time ; aftei-yOur death you were, 
better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live^' 
Polonius, My lord, I will use them according to their 
desert. 513 

Hamlet, God's bod3^kins, man, much better ! Use every 
man after his desert, and who should scape whipping ? Use 
them after your own honor and dignity ; the less they 
deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in. 
Polonius, Come, sirs. 

Hamlet, Follow him, friends ; we '11 hear a play to-mor- 
row. \_Exit Polonius with all the Players hut the First.] 
Dost thou hear me, old friend ; can you play the Murder of 
Gonzago ? 522 

1 Player, Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. We '11 ha' 't to-morrow night. You could, for a 
need, s^^-^' leech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I 

and insert in 't, could you not? 
my lord. 

well. Follow that lord ; and look you mock 

Player.] My good friends, I '11 leave you 

,..c welcome to Elsinore. 530 

^^itcrantz. Good my lord ! 

Hamlet, Ay, so, God be wi' ye I — [Exeunt Rosencrantz 

and GuiLDENSTERN.] Now I am alone. 

sion [Singer, Hudson, etc.] ? sorrow [Schmidt]? — Lines 536, 545. — 508. 
bestowed = lodged, taken care of [Rolfe, etc.] ? III. iv. 174 ; IV. iii. 12. 
A. S. st6w, a place; Mid. Eng. stoiven, to put in a place. For the force of 
the prefix be-, see note on heshreio, II. i. 113. — 509. abstract. The folios 
have abstracts. Allowable V — 510. you were better have. Originally 
the full construction would have been, /or 7/011 it were better to have; but 
the dative slipped ungrammatically into a nominative, owing to its posi- 
tion before the verb. Abbott, 230, 352. —514. bodykins. -kin is a dimin- 
utive suffix, said to be allied to Dutch and Ger. kind, a child. Thus 
manikin, little man; Wilkin, little Will; lambkin; Peterkin, shortened to 
Perkin, little Peter ; bodykin, little body. Other examples ? Here the 
consecrated wafer representing the body of our Saviour. The words = By 
the mass, in II. i. 50 V — 515. after = according to ? So in Psalm ciii. 10. — 
515. scape. I. iii. 38. — 525. dozen or sixteen lines. Can j^ou find them 
in Act III. sc. ii., lines 138-239 r — 528, 529. mock him not. Said sin- 
cerely ? So Clark thinks. Is Hamlet a true gentleman ? — 532. God be 
wi' ye. Origin of our good-bye ? — 533. alone* Is he eager to be alone ? 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 99 

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I ! 

Is it not monstrous that this player here, 535 

But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, 

Could force his soul so to his own conceit 

That from her working all his visage wann'd, 

Tears in his eyes, distraction in 's aspect, 

A broken voice, and his whole function suiting 540 

With forms to his conceit ?/^and all for nothing ! ) 

For Hecuba ! 

What 's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, 

That he should weep for her? What would he do, 

Had he the motive and the cue for passion 545 

That I have? He would drown the stage with ' 

And cleave the general ear with horrid speech, 

Make mad the guilty and appal the free, 

Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed 

The very faculties of eyes and ears. 

Yet I, 

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak. 

Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause. 

And can say nothing ; no, not for a king, 

Upon whose property and most dear life 555 

If so, what may we infer as to liis sanity ? See Rolfe's or Furness's 
ed. — 537. conceit = conception, imagination? — 538. her. Soul fem- 
inine here? Xot in Bichard II., V. v. 7. Milton makes it fem.. Par, 
Xos^ V. 486, 487, etc. — wann'd. The folios read icann'd. Better? — 
539. aspect. Always so accented in Shakespeare ? Scan. Abbott, 490, 
492. —540. function = energies of soul and body [Caldecott] ? action of 
the body [Clark and Wright]? power of action [Johnson] ? delivery? 
L,3Lt. f tract io, performance ; funr/i, to perform, originally to enjoy. — 541. 
conceit == conception, idea (of the character he was personating) [Clark 
and ^Yright]? Line 537 ; III. iv. 112 ; IV. v. 44.-545. cue = hint or 
prompt-word [Hudson] ? Yet a stage term. — Lat. coda, cauda, tail ;.Fr. 
quelle, tail. Cue = " the tail-end of tlie speech of the preceding speaker, 
... sometimes denoted by Q, owing to similarity in sound." Skeat. Fig- 
urative meaning here ? — 548. free from guilt ?'^ III. ii. 224. As if guilt 
enslaved ? — 552. muddy-mettled = heavy, irresolute [Schmidt] ? — 
rascal. The literal sense is scrapimjs. Old Fr. rascler ; Fr. racier ; 
Lat. rocZe/'e, to scrape. Skeat, ii«cZere ; frequentative rasicare ; dim. ra- 
siculare ; vasculare, rasclare ; rascler, racier. Bracket. Note the slang 
use of our scrape. — peak = mope [Singer]? sneak [Schmidt]? grow 
lean [Rolfe] ? pine away [Clark and Wright] ? Peak as noun = a sharp 
point, akin to pike. In Dorsetshire, peeked = tlim, shari>featured. — 
553. John-a-dreams = John of dreams, John the dreamer, a dreamy, 
idle fellow? So Rolfe, etc. The word is formed like Jack-a-lantern ? 
— unpregnant of = not quickened by, not inspired with [Rolfe] ? hav- 
ing no living thoughts within relating to [Clark and Wright] ? incapa- 
ble [Moberly] ? — 555. property = " own person," or, possibly, " kingly 
right" [Clark and Wright] ? crown, wife, every thing which he might 



100 



HAMLET. 



[act II. 



A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward? 

Who calls me villain ? breaks my pate across ? 

Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face? 

Tweaks me by the nose ? gives me the lie i' the throat, 

As deep as to the lungs ? who does me this ? 

Ha! 

'S wounds, I should take it ; for it cannot be 

But I am pigeon-liver' d and lack gall 

To make oppression bitter, or ere this 

I should have fatted all the region kites 

With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdj villain ! 

Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain ! 

O vengeance ! 

Why, what an ass am I ! This is most brave, 

That I, the son of a dear father murther'd, 

Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, 

Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, 

And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, 

A scullion ! 

Fie upon 't ! foh 1 About, my brain ! I have heard 

That guilty creatures sitting at a play ^ 

Have by the very cunning of the scene 



560 



565 



570 



575 



be said to be possessed of, except his life [Furness] ? — 556. defeat = de- 
struction [War burton, etc] ? See I. ii. 10. Old Fr. defairey desfaire, to 
defeat, undo. Old Fr. des, Lat. dis [with the force of English verbal ini-l ; 
and faire : Lat. facere, to do. Skeat. — 557. pate. From plate, by loss 
of I. Plate is the crown of the head. Low Lat. plata, a plate of metal ; 
Gr. TrAaru?, platus, broad, —559. the lie, etc. So Richard II., I. i 124. — 
560. me -for me? to me? See IT. i. 7. Abbott, 220. — 562. 'Swounds = 
God's wounds, wounds of Christ = Zounds ! So V. i. 264. Instead of 
this oath, the folios have loliy. See note on 11.1.76.-563. pigeon- 
livered, etc. "It was supposed that pigeons and doves owed the 
gentleness of their disposition to the absence of gall." White. — gall, 
metaphorically for courage [Clark and Wright] ? — 564. To make, etc. 
= to make me feel the bitterness of oppression [Dyce]? — 565. region = 
of the air or sky ? See note on 1. 473. — 566. offal. Sievers sees in this 
word and sentence a revelation of Hamlet's plan to bring the king 
to legal trial, execution, quartering, etc. Reasonable inference? — 567. 
kindless = unnatural [Johnson] ? The opposite is kindly. See note on 
I. ii. 65. — 570. father. Two quartos omit this word; the folios read, the 
dear murthered. Which makes the better sense? — 571. heaven and 
hell = all the best and all the worst passions [Hudson] ? — 573. a-eurs- 
ing. Like a-makinf/, I. iii. 119. Abbott, 24. — 574. scullion = a kitchen 
menial? a servant that cleans pots and kettles?, Fr. escouillon, "a 
wispe, dishclout (dishcloth), maukin, or drag, to cleanse or sweep an 
oven." Skeat. — Other readings are scalion, stallyon, and stallion. — 575. 
About = to your work [Johnson]? Steevens and Monk Mason make 
about a sea-i^hrase = '' be my thoughts shifted into a contrary direc- 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 101 

Been struck so to the soul that presently 

They have proclahn'd their malefactions ; 

For murther, though it have no tongue, will speak 580 

With most miraculous organ. I '11 have these players 

Play something like the murther of my father 

Before mine uncle : I '11 observe his looks ; 

I '11 tent him to the quick : if he but blench, 

I know my course^ The spirit that I have seen 585 

May be the cleviK^ and the jdevil hath power 

To assume a pleasing shap^ ; yea, and perhaps 

Out of my weakness and my melancholy, 

As he is very potent with such spirits, 

Abuses me to damn me. I '11 have grounds 590 

More relative than this ; . the play's the thing 

Wherein I '11 catch the conscience of the king. [_Exit, 

tion." Well ? — 577-580. Instances are cited by Rolfe, Wright, etc. — 578. 
presently = immediately, as in line 170? Lat. prce^ before ; sens, being ; 
jjnesens, being in front, t3eing in sight. Skeat. Hence the adverb means 
immediately, as in the Bible and Shakespeare. — 581. Macbeth, III. iv. 
122-126. —584. tent = probe ? Tent, a roll of lint used to dilate a wound. 
Fr. tenter, to prove, tr^^etc. ; Lat. tentdre, to handle, touch, test. Skeat. 
— quick. A. S. cwic, alive ; from Teutonic base kiclvKi. Akin to Lat. 
vivus, alive, Gr. /Sto?, bios, life. — blench = shrink [Steevens, etc.] ? flinch 
[Hunter, etc.] ? wink, glance [Halliwell] ? A. S. hlican, to twinkle ; 
Eng. blink, to wink, glance ; Mid. Eng. blenche, to turn aside ; Eng. 
blench, to cause to blink; to shrink, start from, flinch. A differ- 
ent word from blanch, to whiten. — 586. devil. Coleridge quotes Sir 
Thomas Browne's (1605-1682) belief that ghosts, etc., are not souls of 
the dead, but devils bent to harm and deceive mankind (2 Cor. xi. 14.) 
590. abuses = deceives, deludes, imposes upon, practises upon with illu- 
sions ? Repeatedly so in Shakespeare. — 591. relative = nearly related, 
closely connected [Johnson] ? to the purpose [Schmidt, Wright, etc.] ? 
in closer and clearer relation [Hudson] ? "The word is not known to 
exist elsewhere in this sense." Clark and Wright. What progress in 
the plot is made in the second act ? Is Hamlet to be praised or blamed 
for his caution ? for his delay in shedding his uncle's blood ? 



102 HAMLET. [act III. 



ACT III. 

Scene I. A Room in the Castle, 
Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and 

GUILDENSTERN. 

Kinn. ^r^f\ can you, by no drift of circumstance, 
n why he puts on this confusion, 
larshly all his days of quiet 
^nt and dangerous lunacy ? 

"z. He does confess he feels himself distracted ; 
t cause he will by no means speak. 6 

^^ i^vvu.^iisitrn. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded, 
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof. 
When we would bring him on to some confession 
Of his true state. 

Queen. Did he receive you well? 10 

Rosencrantz. Most like a gentleman. 
Guildenstern. But with much forcing of his disposition. 
Rosencrantz. Niggard of question, but of our demands 
Most free in his reply. 

How much time between Act II. and III. ? 1. drift of circum- 
stance = course of indirect inquiry [Hudson]? roundabout method 
[Clark and Wright] ? II. i. 10; I. v. 127. For circumstance^ the quartos 
read conference. Equally good? — 2. puts on. Does the king think 
Hamlet is shamming ? — confusion, of mind? — 3. Gratings vexing 
[Rolfe] ? disturbing, irritating [Clark and^Wright]? Old Fr. grater, to 
scratch, scrape; Swed. kratta, to scrape; Dutch krassen ; Ger. kratzen, 
to scratch. Skeat.—^. lunacy. Lat. lana, moon. Connection? — 7. 
forward = disposed, inclined [Caldecott, etc.] ? — sounded. Metaphor 
from sound, to fathom ? or sound, to ring or make to ring? — 8. keeps. 
Where there can be no doubt as to the nominative, it is sometimes 
omitted. Abbott, 399. II. ii. 67; IV. i. 10. —crafty madness. III. iv. 
186. —12. with much, etc. = with apparent unwillingness [Moberly] ? 
— disposition = mood [Clark and Wright]? I. iv. 55. Do this scene 
and II. ii. show that Guildenstern has more discernment than Rosen- 
crantz ? Moberly says so. — 13, 14. niggard . . . most free, etc. 
Warburton, Hudson, etc., transpose these words, to make the statement 
better accord with the facts. But does Rosencrantz mean to state the 
facts? — question. This has been variously interpreted inquiry con- 
versation, cross-examination (or "inquisition," as on the rack). Baffled 
by Hamlet, yet desirous of standing well with the king and queen, the 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 105 

Queen. Did you assay him 

To any pastime ? 15 

Bosencrantz. Madam, it so fell out that certain players 
We o'er-raught on the way ; of these we told him, 
And there did seem in him a kind of joy 
To hear of it. They are about the court. 
And, as I think, they have already order 20 

This night to play before him. 

Polonius, 'Tis most true ; 

And he beseech 'd me to entr-eat your majestic^ 
To hear and see the matter. 

King. With all my heart ; and it doth 
me 
To hear him so inclin'd. — 
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge. 
And drive his purpose on to these delights. 

Bosencrantz. We shall, my lord. 

\_Exeunt Eosencrantz and Guildensterx. 

King. Sweet Gertrude, leave us too ; 

For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, 
That he, as 't were by accident, may here 30 

Affront Ophelia. 

Her father and myself, lawful espials. 
Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen, 
We may of their encounter frankly judge, 
And gather by him, as he is behav'd, 35 

two young men answer vaguely ?— 14, 15. assay . . . pastime = try 

his disposition towards pastime [Caldecott] ? try him by the test of any 
pastime [Clark and Wright]? — Old Fr. essai, a trial; Lat. exagium, a. 
weighing, a trial of exact weight; Gr. e^dyiov, exagiou, a weighing; Gr. 
e^, out, ttYeev, to lead; e^dyeiv, to export merchandise. — 17. o'er-rauglit 
= over-reached, that is, overtook [Johnson]? Raughi is obsolete past 
participle of reach. A. S. raecan seems to mean, to get into one's power; 
raec, occasion, allied to rice, power, powerful, from Teutonic base rak = 
root RAG, to rule. Skeat. Hence reach = to attain, extend to, arrive at, 
gain. — 20. order. This singular is repeatedly found for the plural in 
Shakespeare. V. ii. 365. — 22. beseecli'd. Obsolete ? — 24. content 
= gratify, please ? — 26. edge = incitement, stimulus ? Root ak, to 
pierce; Gr. (xktj, ake, a point; Lat. acies, edge; Mid. Eng. ec/c/e : Eng. 
edr/e, border, sharpness. — 29. closely = privately, secretly? Repeat- 
edly so in Shakespeare. " So as not to let Hamlet know whence the 
message comes." Hudson. Gr. KXeiui, kleio, I shut; Lat. clauderef to 
shut, shut in; Ger. schliessen, to shut. — 31. affront = meet directly 
[Johnson]? confront [Clark and Wright]? Lat. frons, forehead; 
akin to broic. Front to front is forehead to forehead ? Affront = 
meet face to face?— 32. lawful espials = spies justifiably inquisitive 
[Caldecott] ? Shakespeare several times uses espials for spies. — 33. be- 



104 HAMLET, [act III. 

If 't be the affliction of his love or no 
That thus he suffers for. 

Queen. I shall obey you. — 

And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish 
That your good beauties be the happy cause 
Of Hamlet's wildness ; so shall I hope your virtues 40 

Will bring him to his wonted way again. 
To both your honors. 

Ophelia, Madam, I wish it may. \_Exit Queen. 

Folonius. Ophelia, watk you -here. — Gracious, so please 
you. 
We will bestow ourselves. [To Ophelia] Read on this book ; 
Th;"^ show of such an exercise may color 45 

Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this — 
*T is too much prov'd — that with devotion's visage 
And pious action we do sugar o'er 
The devil himself. 

King, [Aside'] O, 't is too true ! 
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience ! 50 
The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art, 
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it 
Than is my deed to my most painted word. 
O heavy burthen ! 

Polonius, I hear him coming ; let 's withdraw, my lord. 55 

[Exeunt King and Folonius. 
Enter Hamlet. 

Hamlet, To be, or not to be, — that is the question : 
Whether 't is nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 

stow=stow away? II. ii. 508. — 39-42. beauties . . . virtues . . . 

honors. These plurals = what ? Walker suggests, and Furness adopts, 
beauty and virtue, instead of the plural. Wisely ? See I. ii. 15, 254. — it 
= what? — 43. Gracious. I. i. 164. The word is not used elsewhere in 
Shakespeare without its substantive. — 45. color = give plausibility to? 
— 47. too much proved = found by too frequent experience [Johnson] ? 
proved by too frequent examples [Clark and Wright] ? — 51. beautied. 
Not elsewhere a verb in Shakespeare. — 52. to = compared to? I. ii. 
140. — 53. painted = falsely colored, unreal [Kolfe, etc.]? fictitious, dis- 
guised [Clark and Wright]? — 56. To be, or not to be; i.e., after 
death ? are we to exist, or not to exist, after our present state [Johnsori] ? 
" Johnson is wrong. . . . Hamlet is . . . deliberating . . . whether he 
should continue to live, or put an end to his life." Malone. " In 1. ii., 
Hamlet has spoken of suicide as being against the canon of the Ever- 
lasting. Here he considers it as viewed by philosophy." Moherly. — 
58. slings = '* the strong cables or chains which are bounA round the 



■■■ 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 105 

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 

And by opposing end them ? To die, — to sleep, — 60 

No more ; and by a sleep to say we end 

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks 

That flesh is heir to, — 't is a consummation 

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, — to sleep, — 

To sleep ! perchance to dream ! ay, there 's the rub ; 65 

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come 

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil. 

Must give us pause / there 's the respect 

That makes calamity of so long life ; 

For who would bear the whips and scorns oi 

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's con. 

The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, 

The insolence of office, and the spurns 

That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 

buoys, commonly barrels, tiiat float upon the surface of the water, hold- 
ing fast the anchors to which they are attached " [Dr. A. Gerth, 1861] ? 
instruments for throwing stones ? — 59. arms against a sea. Mixed 
metaphor? two metaphors blended into one [Clark and Wright]? arms 
against a host of troubles which break in upon us like a sea [Clark and 
Wright]? — sea of troubles = /caKw;' TreAaYo?, kakon pelagos, in the Hip- 
polytus. Loivell (Among My Books, p. 191). — Ingleby quotes Ritson's 
Memoirs of the Celts, " to the effect that the Celts in the wantonness of 
their bravery ' oppose the overwhelming sea,' and ' taking arms ' rush 
upon the waves." " Is not the metaphor sound? If there be an incon- 
gruity in the notion of taking arms . . . against the sea, is there not 
just as great an incongruity in using a bare bodkin against the soul " ? 
Ingleby. In Hamlet's distress and perplexity, is not a mixed metaphor 
quite natural? See III. iii. 57. — 61. No niore^it is nothing more 
[Knight, Rolfe, etc.]? — 65. rvib. A metaphor from bowling, *' meaning 
a collision hindering the bowl in its course" [Clark and Wright] ? — 
67. coil = turmoil [WarburtonJ ? incumbrance [Heath]? entanglement 
[Clark and Wright]? " Turmoil or bustle, and that which intwines or 
wraps around. Snakes generally lie like the coils of ropes; . . . allusion 
is had to the struggle . . . that animal . . . casting his slough " ! Ccd- 
decott. See Rom. vii. 24. ''The coil received its quietus on Isth Sept., 
1858, by ' A. M. of Greenock,' who cites a derivation from the Gaelic co- 
chul, meaning the scaly integument which clothes the lower limbs of a 
mermaid " I See F'urness, who concurs with Caldecott. " Tumult and bus- 
tle of this mortal life. Perhaps coil here means also the bodv." Hudson. 
"Shakespeare never uses coil in the familiar modern sense. '^ Rolfe. — 68. 
3Iust. What must ? — give us pause = stop our career, occasion reflec- 
tion [Caldecott] ?— pavise is ... to take up the time of three syllables 
in pronunciation [Moberly] ? — III. iii. 42 ; IV. iii. 9. — respect = con- 
sideration, motive. Usually so in Shakespeare. III. ii. 166. —69. of 
so long life = so long lived [Clark and Wright]? — respect, etc. . . . 
life— consideration that induces us to undergo the calamity of so long 
a life [Hudson]? See note on of a doubt, I. iv. 36, 37. — 10. time = the 
times [Hunter] ? the world ? Shakespeare generally uses the article as 
in I. V. 189. Rolfe. — Johnson says that the wrongs enumerated (70-74) 
" are not the evils that would particularly strike a prince.'^ Is Shake- 



106 HAMLET. [act III. 

When he himself might his quietus make 75 

With a bare bodkin ? who would fardels bear, 

To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 

But that the dread of something after death. 

The undiscover'd country from w^hose bourn 

No traveller returns, puzzles the will, 80 

And makes us rather bear those ills we have 

Than fly to others that we know not of ? 

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all ; 

And thus the native hue of resolution 

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, 85 

And enterprises of great pith and moment 

With this ?'egard their currents turn awry, 

And lose the name of action. — Soft you now ! 

The fair Ophelia ! — Nymph, in thy orisons 

Be all my sins remember'cl. 

Ophelia, Good my lord, 90 

How does your honor for this many a day ? 

speare, then, speaking of his own experience ? — 75. quietus (est) =(he 
is) discharged, (is) at rest ; a law phrase in settling accounts. Quietus = 
acquittance? settlement? final discharge ? Lat. quiescere, to rest; qui- 
etus, quiet. Hence come ac-quit and quit, requite. V. ii. 68, 257; IV. 
vii. 1. — 76. bare = mere [Schmidt, Rolfe, etc.]? unsheathed [Malone] ? 

— bodkin = least weapon ? small dagger [Steevens, etc.] ? Welsh bido- 
gyn, small dagger, diminutive of bidog, dagger. — fardels = burdens; 
literally packs, bundles? Low Liat. fardellus, a burden, pack. Fardel 
is a diminutive of Fr. farde, a burden. Skeat. Arabic fardah, a pack- 
age ? The folios read, Who'd these fardels, Qtc, Better? — 77. grunt is 
"one of the many words," says White, "which have been degraded 
since Shakespeare wrote." — The word is imitative, and so originated? 

— 79. bourn = limit, boundary? Fr. borne, landmark, boundary; old 
Fr. bonne ; Low Lat. bonna, bound. Bound is a doublet of bourn. Skeat. 

— 80. returns, i.e., to the state of mortal life [Hudson, etc.]? returns 
to live here [Coleridge] ? Had the Ghost returned ? — Steevens cites Ca- 
tullus, Qui nunc It per iter tejiebricosum, Illuc unde negant redire quen- 
quam. Who now passes through gloomy route thither, whence they say 
no one returns. No translation into English print having been made, 
had Shakespeare read this in the original Latin ? — 83. conscience, etc. 
So in Richard III., I. iv. 131. Point out the proverbial expressions in 
this soliloquy. — 84. native hue. What color is meant ? Mer. of Ven- 
ice, II. i. 7; III. ii. 86. — (S5. thought = grief [Hudson]? melancholy 
[Hunter] ? care, anxiety [Clark and Wright]? See "take thought, and 
die for Csesar." Julius Coesar, 11. i. 187. So Matt. \\. 34.-86. pith. 
The quartos read pitch. Allowable? — 87. currents. Mixed meta- 
phor? — awry. The folios have away, which Corson prefers as denot- 
ing more of a change. — 88. Soft = hush [Clark and Wright]? hold, 
stop [Schmidt]? a gentler pace [Caldecott] ? Mer. of Venice, IV. i,, 310, 
311. "Soft! no haste." 0^/ie/^o, V. ii. 338. — 89. Nymph = maiden ? Gr. 
vv^x.<|)r), numphe, a bride; literally, " a veiled one," like Lat. nupta. —ori- 
sons = i^rayers. Fr. oraisons, prayers; Lat. ordre, to pray. — Johnson 
thinks that Hamlet here for the moment forgets that he is to appear 



i 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. ' 107 

Hamlet, I humbly thank you ; well, well, well. 

Ophelia, My lord, I have remembrances of yours, 
That I have longed long to re-deliver ; 
I pray you, now receive them. 

Hamlet, No, not 1 : 95 

I never gave you aught. 

Ophelia. My honor 'd lord, I know right well you did ; 
And with them words of so sweet breath compos 'd 
As made the things more rich : their perfume lost, 
Take these again ; for to the noble mind 100 

Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. 
There, my lord. 

Hamlet, Ha, ha ! are you honest? 

Ophelia, My lord? 

Hamlet, Are you fair? 105 

Ophelia. What means your lordship? 

Hamlet, That if you be honest and fair, your honesty 
should admit no discourse to your beauty. 

Ophelia, Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce 
than with honesty ? no 

Hamlet. Ay, truly ; for the power of beauty will sooner 
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force 
of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness : this was 
sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did 
love you once. 115 

Ophelia, Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. 

insane. Does lie intend her to hear his words? — 92. well. Dissyllable 
twice over by ironical modulation [Moberly] ? — 93. remeiiibrauces = 
mementos? II. ii. 144. — 96. aught, etc. Does he mean that he ac- 
counts his presents of no value ? — 97. I know. The quartos read '* you 
know." VVhich is better? Reasons? Corson interprets thus: "The 
remembrances you gave me may have been trifles to you, such trifles as 
left no impression on your mind of having given them ; but / know right 
well you did, as they Vere most dear to me at the time." — 103. honest 
= free from fraud, not acting as a deco}^ ? virtuous [Staunton, etc.] ? It 
means chaste in Winter'' s Tale, II. i. 64, 72. — Hudson thinks that Ham- 
let, suspecting that there are listeners and spies, means the after- 
speeches in this scene for them rather than for Ophelia. Probable ? — 
107. your honesty, etc. =your chastity should have no conversation or 
acquaintance with your beauty [Hudson] ? virtue, personified as the 
guardian of beauty, should allow none, not even himself, to discourse 
with the latter [Clark and Wright] ? = your honesty should be so chary 
of your beauty as not to suffer a thing so fragile to entertain discourse, 
or be parleyed with [Caldecott] ? — 109. commerce = intercourse 
[Rolfe, etc ] ? conversation [Clark] ? dealings ? Milton's // Penseroso, 
39. — 114. sometime. I. ii. 8. — 116. Here, and in lines 155, 156 (and in 
what others, if any?), she alludes to herself and her own feelings? — 



108 HAMLET, [act III. 

Hamlet. Yon should not liMve believed me ; for virtue 

but we shall relish of it : I 

ed. 120 

y ; why wouldst thou be a 
indifferent honest ; but yet 
__.„ ^. K.c4^xi tuiiigs that it were better my 
mother had not borne me : I am very proud, revengeful, am- 
bitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts 
to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to 
act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling 
between earth and heaven ? We are arrant knaves all ; be- 
lieve none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. AVhere 's your 
father? 130 

Ophelia. At home, my lord. 

Hamlet. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play 
the fool nowhere but in 's own house. Farewell. 

Ophelia. \_Aside~\ O help him, you sweet heavens ! 134 

Hamlet. If thou dost marry, I '11 give thee this plague for 
thy dowry : be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou 
shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go ; fare- 
well. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool ; for wise 
men know well enough what monsters j^ou make of them. 
To a nunnery, go ; and quickly too. Farewell. 140 

Ophelia. \_Aside'] O heavenly powers, restore him ! 

Hamlet. I have heard of your paintings too, well enough ; 
God has given you one face, and you make yourselves an- 
other : you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nickname God's 

118. relish = have a strong taste [Hudson] ? liave a flavor, retain a trace 
[Rolfe, etc.]? — it=the old stock [Delius] ? — 121. Get thee. A com- 
mon reflexive use of get in Shakespeare, but never with the fuU form of 
the pronouns thy self ^ etc. Schmidt. So the Duke says to Shy lock, '' Get 
thee gone, but do it." Mer. of Venice, III. i. 388. — 122. -indifferent = 
fairly, ordinarily, tolerably? II. ii. 22(>. — 125. at my beck = always 
ready to come about me [Steevens] ? like evil genii, ready at a nod to 
start into act [Caldecott] ? ready to come about me on a signal of per- 
mission [Hudson] ? — 128. arrant. I. v. 124. — 129. ways. I. iii. 135. — 
131. at home. The poor girl must have shown by her manner that she 
was falsifying? and hence Hamlet's angry answer ? — 134 and 141. The 
^^ Aside" was first inserted by Furness. Rightly ?— monsters = mon- 
strosities ? '* A horned man's a monster.*' 0//ieZ/o, IV. i. 55. — 142. your 
paintings = the paintings of you women [Collier, etc.]? Ophelia's paint- 
ings ? The folios have pratlinr/s or pratlinfj, also j^cice for face. Better ? — 
144. jig = walk as if dancing a jig [Rolfe, etc.] ? See II. ii. 486.— amble 
= goatapace between a walk and a trot [Skeat] ? walk effeminately 
[Wright and Clark] ? Lat. ambulare, to walk; Old Fr. ambler, to go at 



SCENE I.] HAMLET, 109 

creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go 
to, I '11 no more on 't ; it hath made me mad. I say, we will 
have no more marriages : those that are married already, all 
but one, shall live ; the rest shall keep as they are. To a 
nunnery, go. ^Exit, 

Ophelia, O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown ! 150 

The courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye, tongue, sword ; 
The expectancy and rose of the fair state. 
The glass of fashion and the mould of form. 
The observ'd of all observers, quite, quite down ! 
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, 155 

That suck'd the honey of his music vows. 
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason. 
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune, and harsh ; 
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth 



an easy pace. In 1 Henry IV., III. ii. 60; Richard III., I. i. 17; and Romeo 
and Jvliet, 1. iv. 11, Shakespeare uses the word with contempt ? — nick- 
name = give wrong names to [Clark and Wright]? misname, miscaU 
[Rolfe, etc.]? — A. S. ecan, to augment; Eng. eke, also; A. S. nama, 
name; whence Mid. Eng. ekename, additional name (like Lat. agnomen, 
surname). The initial n is not original, but acquired. Skeat. — 145. 
make, etc. = use ambiguous words as if you did not know their mean- 
ing [Moberly] ? mistake wantonly, and pretend you do it through igno- 
rance [Johnson] ? It seems to imply that the women affected a pretty, 
innocent ignorance as a mask for wantonness. White. — 147. all but 
one. Would Ophelia understand this ? — 149. To a nunnery, etc. In 
this dialogue, does Hamlet speak in sorrow, or in anger ? Amid the im- 
IDcnding riiin and terror, was not a nunnery the best possible place for 
her? — 151. courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye, tongue, sword. In 
all the folios and quartos but one, the order is, courtier'' s, soldier^s, schol- 
ar's. Hanmer re-arranged the words to make them correspond respec- 
tively to eye, tongue, sivord. Rightly and wisely ? Ought Ophelia to 
speak with faultless rhetoric? RohrlDach thinks Hamlet's tongue a sol- 
dier's tongue, his sword a scholar's or student's sword. Likely ? — 152, 
fair. Because Hamlet adorns it as the rose. Deliiis. Abbott, 4. — What 
is prolepsis? For proleptic use of the adjective, see Macbeth, I. iii. 84, 
and I. vi. 3; III. iv. 76. — 153. glass, etc. So in 2 Henry IV., II. iii. 21, 
22, *' He was indeed the glass. Wherein the noble youth did dress them- 
selves." — mould of form = model by which all endeavored to form 
themselves [Johnson] ? the cast in which is shaped the only perfect 
form [Caldecott]? " ' Mould of form' would be a disagreeable pleonasm, 
were not 'form 'to be understood as equivalent to cere7nony, external 
rites." Tschischioitz. Judge. — 155. deject. See I. ii. 20; IV. v. 2. 
Abbott, 342. — 156. honey, etc. Mixed metaphor [Clark and Wright] ? 
Abbott, 22. — 158. jangled out of tune. "'Out of tune' is adverbial 
element to 'jangled.' . . . The two ideas attached to 'bells' are: 1. 
'jangled out of tune'; 2. 'harsh,' which expresses to what extent 
' jangled out of tune ' " [Corson] ? — 159. feature = ligure, form, person. 
Old Fr. faiture, Lat. factura, formation ; facere, to make. — blo^vn. The 
metaphor in line 152 resumed ? A. S. bldwan, to bloom. Allied to Lat. 



110 



HAMLET. 



[act III. 



Blasted with ecstasy : O, woe is me, 

To have seen what I have seen, see what I see ! 



160 



Enter King and Polonius. 



King, Love ! his affections do not that way tend ; 
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little, 
Was not like madness. There's something in his soul 
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood. 
And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose 
Will be some danger ; which for to prevent, 
I have in quick determination 
Thus set it down : he shall with speed to England, 
For the demand of our neglected tribute. 
Haply the seas and countries different 
With variable objects shall expel 
This something-settled matter in his heart. 
Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus 
From fashion of himself. What think you on 't? 

Polonius, It shall do well ; but yet do I believe 
The origin and commencement of his grief 
Sprung from neglected love. — How now, Ophelia! 
You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said ; 
We heard it all. — My lord, do as you please ; 
But, if you hold it fit, after the play 
Let his queen mother all alone entreat him 
To show his griefs : let her be round with him ; 



165 



170 



175 



180 



^o?'ere, to bloom; 'Eng. flourish ; Yr.fleurir^florir. — 160. ecstasy. II. i. 
102. — 162. affections = feelings, inclinations [Rolfe, etc.]? manner in 
which his mind is affected [White] ? — 163, 164. Force of double nega- 
tive ? I. ii. 158; III. ii. 4. — not like madness. Too much " method " 
in it? — 165. on brood -a-brood, brooding? Abbott, 24, 180.— 166. 
doubt. I. ii. 256. — disclose. Technical term for young birds chipping 
the shell [Steevens, AYright, etc.] ? V. i. 277. —167. for to. To com- 
ing to be regarded as a mere sign of the infinitive, /or was prefixed to 
denote motion or purpose. See Abbott, 152. V. i. 92. — 169. shall. As 
in II. ii. 485. The verb of motion is often omitted after an auxiliary. 
Abbott^ 405. — 172. variable = varying, various ? — 173. something-set- 
tled. Shakesx^eare has great freedom in compounding adjecjtives. 
Abbott, 2, ()8. — 174. whereon . . . beating = the constant beating of 
his thoughts upon which [White] ? White reads brain's ; others, brains. 
To explain the singular ymts, the editors treat brains as singular, or 
brains still beating as virtually a compound noun, or "noun-clause." 
Well? Abbott, 337. — 175. fashion of himself = his usual behavior? 
his ordinary habits V — 178. How now. Has she been out, and returned V 
or absorbed in her own distress ? — 183. griefs = grievances [Corson]? 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 111 

And I'll be plac'cl, so please you, in the ear 

Of all their conference. If she find him not, 185 

To England send him, or confine him where 

Your wisdom best shall think. 

King. It shall be so ; 

Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. [^Exewit. 

Scene II. A Hall in the Castle. 

Enter Hamlet and Players. 

Hamlet. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it 
to you, trippingly on the tongue ; but if you mouth it, as 
many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke 
my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, 
thus, but use all gently ; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, 
as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and 
beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it 
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated 
fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears 
of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of 
nothing but inexplicable dumb-shows and noise. I could 

— rounds " square " ? plain-spoken ? See II. ii. 139. — 184. so please 
= if it so please V majMt so please? So is much used in Shakespeare 
in the sense of provided that. Abbott, 133. — in the ear=: within hear- 
ing [\Yright, Schmidt, etc.]? — 185. find = find out? detect, unmask 
[Schmidt]? —find him not = discover not his secret [Clark and Wright] ? 
Foi(nd= found out in AWs Well, II. iii. 205, and in other passa.izes in 
Shakespeare. — What are we to think of the development of plot and 
characters in this scene ? 

ScENp] II. 1. the speech =the dozen or sixteen lines of II. ii. 525? — 

2. mouth =utter with an affectedly big or bawling voice ? V. i. 273. — 

3. had as lief = should be just as much pleased if ? w^ould as soon ? Had 
in this phrase a corruption of loould? Webster. A. S. leof, dear, beloved; 
Ger. lieb, dear; Lat. libet, it pleases. Eng. lief, gladh^ willingly. The 
old English form would have been, Me [i.e., to me] were [i.e., it would 
be, or would have been] as //e/[i.e., as pleasing]. — 4. Nor do not. I. 
ii. 158; III. i. 163, 164.— 8. hear. The folios say see. Better? "The 
ears of the groundlings are not split by what they see." Fnrness. — 9. 
periwig-pated. Periicif/ (anglicised from Fr. perriique, which comes 
from Ital. piliicca, a mass of severed hair; Span, peluca ; Lat. piYws, hair) 
dropped its peri from a notion that it was the Greek prefix nepC, peri ! 
Hence arises ivir/ ! Wigs were worn by actors, but not commonly by 
gentlemen, in the time of Shakespeare. For pate, head, see II. ii. 557. 
— 10. groundlings = the rabble on the ground or floorless pit of the 
theatre? They paid a penny for admission. — capable of = able to un- 
derstand or appreciate ? — if. inexplicable = unintelligible [Schmidt] V 
without words to explain them [Johnson] ? too confusedly conducted 
to explain themselves [Steevens] ? — dumb-shows. See lines 118-120. 



112 



HAMLET, 



[act hi. 



have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant ; it out- 
herods Herod : pray you, avoid it. 

1 Player, I warrant your honor. 14 

Hamlet, Be not too tame neither, but let your own discre- 
tion be your tutor : suit the action to the word, the word to 
the action ; with this special observance, that you o'erstep 
not the modesty of nature ; for any thing so overdone is from 
the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, 
was and is, to hold, as 't were, the mirror up to nature ; to 
show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the 
very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now 
this overdone, or corae tardy off, though it make the unskil- 
ful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve ; the censure 
of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole 
theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, 
and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it pro- 



— 12. Termagant. One of the idols the Saracens were supposed to 
worship. Old. Yv.tervag ant; Itsii. trivagante. Possibly the moon; Lat. 
ter (thrice : in heaven, fe/ene or Luna; on earth, Artemis or Diana; in 
the lower world, Persephone or Proserpina)] Lat. vagans (wandering). 
Skeat. Like the *' triple Hecate " V Termagant was often introduced in 
the old mysteries, moralities, farces, and puppet-shows, as a most vio- 
lent and boisterous character. Present meaning? — 13. Herod was 
also a violent, noisy character in many of the old plaj^s, " of course, 
a furious tyrant," a 'Waunting braggart." — out-herods. Like out- 
viUained villany in AlVs Well, IV. iii. 250. Horace Mann used the ex- 
pression " out-calhouns Calhoun." See Matt. ii. IG. — IHo modesty im- 
plies a little more than moderation ? — from = apart from, away^from 
[Abbott, 158]? contrary to [Clark and Wright] ? — 3fac6ef/i. III. ii. 131, 
and III. iv. 36; Julius Ccesar, I. iii. 35. — 22. his. See note on I. ii. 216. 
— pressure = imprint, character [Rolfe] ? resemblance, as in a print 
[Johnson]? Seel. v. 100. This description of the purpose of playing 
is famous. Is it accurate ? Are the words 6co?"?i and age happily chosen ? 
scorn = \\ce, that which is foul [Moberly] ? — 23. come tardy off- '* un- 
derdone " ? too feebly represented, where the actor, as it were, limps be- 
hind tlie true conception of the character [Clark and Wright] ? without 
spirit or animation [Caldecott] ? coine short of [Mason] ? The quarto 
of 1676 has of for o/f, and Hudson, Furness, and others read of. — Abbott, 
165. — 24. censure, as in I. iii. 69. — one = one class [Caldecott]? one 
person [Delius, etc.] ? " Of the tohich one " means of one of ivhich, or of 
whom. Hudson. — 25. allowance = estimation, approval [Hudson]? — 

26. be. Abbott, 300. Been or ben was anciently the plural of the indica- 
tive present; afterwards be, as in King James's version of the Bible. — 

27. not to speak it profanely = to avoid profane swearing? Says 
Johnson, " Any gross or indelicate language was called profane.^' 
*' Highly, not to speak it profanely," says Mason, '' refers to the praise 
given to the players; Hamlet considering it a kind of profanation to 
praise persons highly who were so undeserving of it. The construction 
is ' highl}^ not to say profanely.' " Caldecott remarks, "Hamlet says 
that he does not mean to speak profanely by saying that there could be 
any such thing as a journeyman Creator." " The profanity consists in 



SCENE 11.] E AM LET, 113 

fanel}^ that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the 
gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bel- 
lowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had 
made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity 
so abominably. 32 

1 Player, I hope we have reformed that indifferently with 
us, sir. 34 

Hamlet, 0, reform it altogether. And let those that play 
your clowns speak no more than is set down for them ; for 
there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some 
quantity of barren spectators to laugh too, though in the 
mean time some necessary question of the play be then to be 
considered : that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambi- 
tion in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready. 41 

\_Exeunt Players. 

Enter Poloxius, Eosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 

How now, my lord ! will the king hear this piece of work? 

Polonius, And the queen too, and that presently. 

Hamlet, Bid the players make haste. — \_Exit Polonius. 
Will you two help to hasten them ? 45 



Rosencrantz, } ,^^ .„ , ^ 

^ .7 -, . y Ave will, my lord. 

Guilaenstern, J ' -^ 



\_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Hamlet, What ho ! Horatio ! 

Enter Horatio. 

Horatio, Here, sweet lord, at your service. 
Hamlet, Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man 

alluding to Christians." Furness. Well, which ? or — ? — 29. nor man 
= nor even man [Clark and Wright, etc.]? nor even of any human be- 
ing whatever ? The. 1st quarto has nor Turk, which Hudson adopts. 
White reads " or Turk." The folios have " or Norman." Farmer sug- 
gested Mussulman. What think you of these readings? —31. made men. 
So all the early editions. Theobald suggested them for 7nen, and Hudson 
and Furness have adopted it. Wisely? The journej^men "had tried 
their hand at making men (instead of sticking to their regular work on 
inferior creatures). This seems in keeping with * imitated humanity.' " 
Rolfe. — 33. indifferently = measurably, tolerably well? III. i. 122. — 
36. clowns speak no more, etc. The clown used to try to make fun 
by extemporized buffoonery, sometimes bandying raillery and sarcasm 
with persons in the audience. See White or Rolfe for specimens of such 
extemporizing. — 37. there be. Abbott, 399, and following. III. i. 8. 
Leviticus iv. 16. — 38. quantity = insignificant portion? The word ap- 
pears to be repeatedly used contemptuously in Shakespeare. — barren 
of sense, wit V — 43. presently. See II. ii. 170, 578. —49. just a man. 



114 HAMLET. [act III. 

As e'er my conversation cop'd withal. 50 

Horatio, O, my dear lord, — 

Hamlet, Nay, do not think I flatter ; 

For what advancement may I hope from thee 
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits. 
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd? 
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp, 55 

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee 
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear? 
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice 
And could of men distinguish, her election 
Hath seal'd thee for herself ; for thou hast been 60 

As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing, 
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards 
Hath ta'en with equal thanks : and blest are those • 
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled 

" Horatio is the only complete tnan in the play, — solid, well-knit, and 
true; a noble, quiet nature, with that highest of all qualities, judgment, 
always sane and prompt." Lowell (see the whole passage in Arnong My 
BookSy Yol. i. pp. 216, 217. — 50. conversation = converse, intercourse ? 
— cop'd = encountered [Caldecott, Wright, etc.] ? dealt ? — A. S. cedpian^ 
to cheapen; cedp, sl bargain; Dutch koop, a bargain; koopen, to buy; 
Lat. caupOj a huckster; cojxi, a barmaid; Gr. KdnrjAog, kapelos, a peddler. 
The original sense of cope was " to bargain with," "to chaffer with; " a 
word introduced into England by Flemish and Dutch traders. Skeat. 
In Mer. of Venice^ IV. i. 403, cope = reward, requite, pay. — withal == 
with. I. iii. 28. Abbott, 196. —53. revenue. Shakespeare accents 
either 1st or 2d syllable at pleasure. Hudson remarks that Webster, 
Choate, and Everett accented 2d syllable. What tendency in accentua- 
tion is illustrated by this word and " character " (I. iii. 59), " aspect " (II. 
ii. 539) '* contrary " (III. ii. 194) ? Abbott, 490. —55. candied = sugared, 
flattering, glozing [Dyce] ? Arabic and Per. qand, sugar, sugar-candy; 
qandi, made of sugar, sugared; Ital. candire, to candy; candi, candy. 
No connection with Lat. candidus, white. — absurd. Accent? — 56. 
crook, etc. = let the tongue crook [Wright and Clark] ? crook thou? 
let the hinges crook (i.e., bend, be bent) [Tschischwitz] ? let the person 
who has a candied tongue crook [Rolfe, Wright, etc.] ? — pregnant = 
quick, ready, prompt [Johnson] ? artful [Moberly] ? designing, full of 
deceit [Nares] ? bowed, swelled out [Caldecott] V Tioelfth Niqht, II. ii. 
26, and III. i. 88, favor Johnson's. So Lear, II. i. 76, and IV. vi. 203. 
a i Pregnant,' because untold thrift is born from a cunning use of the 
knee." Furness. II. ii. 208. —57. thrift = gain, profit? In I. ii. 180, 
th rift = economy. — fawning. '^ Faining of the folios is . . . another 
form of fawning, just as good, if not better." Stratniann. — 5S. dear 
soul. See on dearest,!, ii. 182. This resembles the childlike phrases 
of Homer, as (^t'Aor ^rop, philon etor, (my) dear heart. — 59. of = about 
[Abbott, 174]? The second and third quartos read "distinguish her 
election, S'hath [i.e., she hath] sealed," etc. This is favored by Ritson, 
and Corson thinks it may be right. Better sense ? In 2 Henry VI., II. 
i. 130, we read " distinguish of colors." For sealed, see John vi. 27. Was 
Shakespeare familiar with the Bible? — 64. blood and judgment = 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 115 

That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger 65 

To sound what stop she pleased Give me that man 

That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him 

In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart. 

As I do thee.V- Something too much of this. — 

There is a "Jrkty to-night before the king ; 70 

One scene of it comes near the circumstance 

Which I have told thee of my father's death. 

I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot, 

Even with the very comment of thy soul 

Observe mine uncle ; if his occulted guilt 75 

Do not itself unkennel in one speech, 

It is a damned ghost that we have seen, 

And my imaginations are as foul 

As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note ; 

For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, 80 

And after we will both our judgments join 

In censure of his seeming. 

Horatio. Well, my lord ; 



passions and reason [Caldecott] ? According to the doctrine of the four 
humors, desire and confidence were seated in the \Aood., judgment in the 
phlegm, and the due mixture of the humors made a perfect character. 
Johnson. See Julius Ccesar, Y. v. 73-75: Hamlet, IV. iv. 58. — 69. As I 
do thee. Is Hamlet at all like Horatio ? Why is he so attracted to 
him ? Do opposites draw or repel each other ? — Something too much, 
etc. Why? The genuine manliness of this little sentence, where 
Hamlet checks himself ... is precisely one of Shakespeare's exquisite 
touches of innate propriety in questions of feeling. Clarke. Is Clarke 
right? What light does all this speech to Horatio throw on the ques- 
tion of Hamlet's sanity ? — 72. told thee. Had told Horatio all ? Why 
had he not told Ophelia? — 73. afoot ^^ being performed [Rolfe] ? going 
on [Meiklejohn] ? acting, in progress ? The a in afoot is for on, A. S. 
on; allied to Icel. d, and Gr. aud, ana, up, upon. — 74. the very com- 
ment of the soul = the most intense direction of every faculty [Calde- 
cott] ? all thy powers of observation [Clark and Wright] ? the most 
intimate and real intuition of thy mind [Meiklejohn] ? The folios have 
"my soul," which some prefer. Your choice? — 75. occulted = hid- 
den, concealed? Lat. occidere, to cover over; occultus, hidden. — 76. 
one speech. II. ii. 525. — unkennel. In Merry Wives of Windsor ^ 
III. iii. 142, we have, " We'll unkennel the fox." Ital. canile, a kennel; 
Lat. caniSf dog; Old Fr. chenil, dog-house. The termination il is imi- 
tated from Lat. -He = a place for. Skeat. — 77. damned = sentenced for 
his wickedness to damnation [Douce] ? " a goblin damned" (I. iv. 40), 
and therefore not to be believed [Rolfe] ? II. ii. 585-5^K). —.79. stithy = 
smithy, forge, workshop? anvil? A. S. stathol, firm; a foundation, 
basis; Icel. stethi, an anvil. Stith-y, properly a smithy, but also used 
with the sense of anvil. Skeat. — note = attention ? So repeatedly in 
Shakespeare. — 82. censure = judgment, opinion (I. iii. 69)? making 
estimate [Caldecott]? forming an opinion [Rolfe, etc.]. — seeming =. 



116 HAMLET, [act III. 

If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing, 

And scape detecting, I will pay the theft. 85 

Hamlet. They are coming to the play ; I must be idle : 
Get you a place. 

Danish march, A flourish. Enter King, Queen, Polonius, 
Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others. 

King, How fares our cousin Hamlet? 

Hamlet. Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish: I 
eat the air, promise-crammed ; you cannot feed capons so. 

King, I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet ; these 
words are not mine. 91 

Hamlet, No, nor mine now. — [_To Polonius] My lord, j^ou 
played once i' the university, you say? 

Polonius, That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good 
actor. 95 

Hamlet, What did you enact ? 

Polonius, I did enact Julius Caesar: I was killed i' the 
Capitol ; Brutus killed me. 

appearance ? — 83. steal, etc. = contrive so to carry it off as [sic] that the 
sUghtest conscious feeling he shows should escape unobserved [Calde- 
cott] ? If he were trying to steal something, I would pledge myself to 
detect him or else to pay for the stolen property [Rolfe] ? — 84. theft. 
See Exodus xxii. 4.-85. iclle = unoccupied ? foolish, light-headed, cra- 
zy [Clark and Wright] ? aimless, going hither and thither like an idiot 
[Delius] ? mad [Staunton] ? appearing to have nothing to do with the 
matter [Moberly, Rolfe, etc.] ? behaving as if my mind were purpose- 
less, or intent upon nothing in jmrticular [Hudson] ? —87. fares. In 
his answer, Hamlet gives a different sense to the word. Is it a habit of 
his? II. ii. 193, 195. The word originally meant to travel. GeT.fahren; 
A S.faran, to go. —88. chameleon's. It was a current belief that this 
animal fed on air. Gravely discussed by Sir Thomas Browne in Vul- 
gar Errors, III. 21. — of, used partitively ? Abbott, 177. —89. promise- 
crammed. What promises ? — 90. I have nothing, etc. = this answer 
is not founded on any act of mine [Moberly] ? I have nothing to do 
with it [Rolfe] ? — 91. "not mine, etc. No relation to any thing said by 
me [Caldecott] ? — 92. nor mine now = they are now anybody's [Calde- 
cott] ? I am mad, and therefore not answerable for what I said a min- 
ute ago [Moberly] ? '' A man's words," says the proverb, " are his own 
no longer than he keeps them unspoken." Johnson. Choose. — 93. uni- 
versity. Why does Hamlet turn so abruptly from the king ? Is he con- 
scious of the latter's enmity ? fearful of a possible display of it ? Latin 
and sometimes English plays were acted by students in the English 
universities, especially for the entertainment of great personages. The 
titlepage of the first quarto of Hamlet shows that it had been played 
" in the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford." See Furness. — 9(y. 
enact. Affected style of speech [Delius] ? Shakespeare uses it in 
Temi)estf IV. i. 121, where there is no affectation. — 97. Csesar, A Latin 
play on this subject was performed at Oxford in 1582. Malone. — 98. 
Capitol* Rather the Curia Pompeii (council-hall of Pompey) near 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. Ill 

Hamlet. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf 
there. — Be the players ready? 100 

Eosencrantz, Ay, my lord ; they stay upon your patience. 

Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me. 

Hamlet. No, good mother, here's metal more attractive. 

\_Lying doiun at Ophelia's /ee^. 

Polonius. \_To the King] O, ho ! do you mark that? 

Ophelia. You are merry, my lord. 105 

Hamlet. Who, I? 

Ophelia. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. O God, your only jig-maker. What should a man 
do but be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my mother 
looks, and my father died within 's two hours. 110 

Ophelia. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord. 

Hamlet. So long? Nay then, let the devil wear black, for 
I '11 have a suit of sables. O heavens ! die two months ago, 

Pompey's Theatre in the Campus Martins, March 15, B.C. 44 ? — 99. 
brute \ . . capital. These puns may be allowable, but what are we 
to think of his treatment of Polonius? Insanity? — 101. patience = 
consent, permission [Rolfe, Delius, etc.] ? slowest and tardiest conven- 
ience [Caldecott] ? Tempest, 111. iii. 3. Gr. iraOelv, pathein, to suffer; 
IjsX, patly to suffer, endure. — stay upon = await. — 108. your only = 
only your [White]? Abbott, 420 —jig-maker. See II. ii. 486. — 110. 
within's := within this [Delius]? within these [White, Dj^ce, etc.]? In 
7?om. and Juliet, V. ii. 25, is " Within this three hours will fair Juliet 
wake." — 111. twice t^vo months. Shall we accept this as fixing the 
time? — 113 sables, etc. " The fur of sables is not black." Johnson. 
*' Sables, the furs so called, are the finery of most northern nations ; so 
that Hamlet's saying amounts to a declaration that he would leave off 
his blacks." Capell. — suit of sables = the most splendid array; pro- 
hibited by the statute of apparel, 24 Henry IV. c. 13, to any one below the 
rank of an earl [Moberly] ? " Sables, . . . the fur used for the trimming 
of rich robes worn by persons of a grave and dignified character. . . . 
There is an intended contrast combined with a play on words. Hamlet 
having mentioned 'black,' the word which suggests itself as a contrast 
to it is one which might be confounded with it. . . . The sables and 
weeds of age are in this play, IV. vii. 79, [contrasted] with the careless 
livery of youth." Clo/rk and Wright. So Schmidt. Warburton and 
White change /or to./b?'e, or make it = before ; " as much as to say, * Let 
the devil wear black for me, I'll have none.''' Wightwick, followed 
by Hudson, reads sabell (i.e., couleiir d'isabelle), flame-color. Halliwell 
says, '' Shakespeare's intention was most likely to make Hamlet here 
speak incoherently." ''The contrast," says Elze, "between a suit of 
Gables and a black mourning garment, lies not in the color, but in the 
costliness and splendor of the material. . . . Mourning garments . . . 
are made of coarse and harsh material, whereas for the trimming of a 
suit of sable the most gorgeous and brilliant stuff was selected." Keight- 
ley would insert not before have a suit ! — " In summer the color of the 
sable is reddish or brownish yellow, clouded with black and becoming 
lighter toward the head ; in winter it is dark. The Siberian in winter 
often has the whole body covered with lustrous blackish brown, or 



118 HAMLET, [act III. 

and not forgotten yet? Then there 's hope a great man's 
memory may outlive his life half a year : but, by 'r lady, he 
must build churches, then ; or else shall he suffer not think- 
ing on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is 'For, O, for, 
O, the hobby-horse is forgot I ' 

Hautboys play. The dumb-sliow enters. 

Enter a King ayid a Queen "yer^/ lovingly; the Queen em- 
bracing him^ and he her. She kneels^ and makes shoiv of 
protestation unto him. He takes her up^ and declines his 
head upon her neck; lays him down upon a bank of flowers : 
she^ seeing him asleep^ leaves him. Anon comes in a fellow^ 
takes off his crown, kisses it., and pours poison in the King's 
ears^ and exit. The Queen returns^ finds the King deacZ, 
and makes passionate action. The Poisoner, vjith some two 
or three Mutes, comes in again ^ seeming to lament with her. 
The dead body is carried away. The Poisoner loooes the 
Queen with gifts; she seems loath and unwilling awhile^ but 
in the end accepts his love. . [_Exeunt. 

0];)helia. What means this, my lord? 
Hamlet. Marry, this is miching mallecho ; it means mis- 
chief. 121 

sometimes quite black hairs, but with these are generally intermingled 
white ones." Gill, in JoJinson's Cyclopcedia. — 115. lady = the Blessed 
Virgin? — 116, 117. not thinking on = being forgotten [Knight, etc.], 
oblivion ? — 118. the hobby-horse. Made by the figure of a horse fas- 
tened round the waist of a man, his own legs going through the body of 
the horse and enabling him to walk, but concealed by a long foot-cloth ; _ 
while false legs appeared where those of the man should be at the sides 
of the horse [Nares] ? The hobby-horse was used in the old Morris- 
dances and May games ; but the Puritans put a stop to it, to the grief - 
of the boys. — dumb-shows. " Why the dumb-show should have been 
introduced, is a question that has been much discussed but not satisfac- 
torily settled." Rolfe. ^Hunter professes to have found out. He says : 
"No one has hitherto liit upon the true origin of the show in Hamlet. 
It seems that such strange and unsuitable anticipations were accordirui 
to the common practice of the Danish theatre.^' For particulars of his 
discovery, see Fvrness, p. 242. Caldecott and Knight think that **Ham- ' 
let, intent on * catching the conscience of the king,' would naturally 
wish that his * mouse-trap' should be doubly set." ^yhy, then, is not 
the king frightened at the dumb-show ? Hailiwell thinks that the king 
and queen were inattentive to it, whispering confidentially to each 
other. Likely?— 120. miching mallecho = sneaking mischief [Mo- 
berlyj ? secret and insidious mischief [Schmidt] ?— 3//c/i== to skulk, 
hide, play truant. Mid. Eng. michen; Old Fr. mucer ; later musser, to 
hide, conceal, lurk, squat in a corner. Skeat. Miching, written also 
meac/i/ur/, or meec7i/?i.(7 = retiring, skulking, mean. Webster. Mallecho is 
Span. 7nal, ill ; hecho, deed, or done ; Lat. male, ill ; factum,^ deed. (Lat. 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 119 

Ophelia. Belike this show imports the argument of the 
play ? 

Enter Prologue. 

Hamlet, We shall know by this fellow : the players cannot 
keep counsel ; they '11 tell all. 125 

Ophelia, Will he tell us what this show^ meant ? 

Hamlet, Ay, or any show that you '11 show him ; be not 
you ashamed to show, he '11 not shame to tell you what it 
means. 

Ophelia, You are naught, you are naught; I '11 mark the 
play. 131 

Prologue, For us, and for our tragedy, 

Here stooping to your clemency, 

We beg your hearing patiently. [Exit. 

Hamlet, Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring? 135 

Ophelia, 'T is brief, my lord. 
Hamlet, As woman's love. 

Enter tivo Players, King and Queen. 

Flayer King, Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round 
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground, 

And thirty dozen moons with borrow' d sheen 140 

About the world have times twelve thirties been, 
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands 
Unite commutual in most sacred bands. 

Player Queen. So many journeys may the sun and moon 
Make us again count o'er ere love be done! 145 



/'often becomes Span, h.) 3f/c/ier = skulker, truant ; it occurs in 1 Henry 
'IV., II. iv. 378. — 122. Belike = perhaps [Wright and Clark]? as it seems, 
I suppose [Schmidt]? probably? III. ii. 273. — argument. II. ii. 346. 
— 130. naught =^ nothing, worthless; a stronger ^yord in Shakespeare 
than in present speech. A. S. ndiciht, contracted to ndht: na, no, iciht, 
whit, thing. — 135. posy = motto? Mer. of Fen^ce, V. i. 146-149. Posy 
is a contraction oi poesy. Lat. poesis, poetry ; Gr. iroi-qo-Ls, poiesis, a mak- 
ing, a poem; Trotelv, poiein, to make; the poet was a maker! — 138. 
Phoebus' (the Bright or the Pure, the Shining One), the god of light, the 
sun-god, Apollo. Gr. (/)aog, phaos, ^w?, plios, light. — cart = chariot ? In 
this sense, cart was archaic, or even obsolete, in Shakespeare's time. 
" The style of the interlude here is distinguished from the real dialogue 
by rhyme." Coleridf/e. — 139. Neptune's, god of ocean. See Class. Diet. 

— wash = land washed by sea [Delius] ? sea itself [Wright and Clark] ? 

— Tellus', earth. See Class. Vict. Akin to Lat. terra, land ; or from 
root TAL, to sustain. Skeat. — orbed = round, spherical [Wright and 
Clark]? — 140. sheen = shine, light, lustre?— 142. Hymen. Gv.'Yfx-qv, 
Humen, god of marriage. See Class. Diet. — 143. commutual, stronger 



120 HAMLET. [act in. 

But, woe is me, you are so sick of late, 

So far from cheer and from your former state, 

That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust, 

Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must ; 

For women's fear and love holds quantity, 150 

In neither aught, or in extremity. 

jS'ow, what my love is, proof hath made you know, 

And as my love is siz'd, my fear is so; 

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; 

Where little fears grow great, great love grows there. 155 

Player King, Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too; 
My operant powers their functions leave to do : 
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind, 
Honor'd, belov'd; and haply one as kind 
For husband shalt thou — 

Player Queen, O, confound the rest! 160 

Such love must needs be treason in my breast ; 
In second husband let me be accurst ! 
None wed the second but who kill'd the first. 

Hamlet, [^AsicW] W^ormwood, wormwood ! 

Player Queen, The instances that second marriage move 165 

Are base respects of thrift, but none of love; 
A second time I kill my husband dead, 
When second husband kisses me in bed. 

than mutual? — \^Q. nie = to me = mine? Abbott, 230. — 147. cheer = 
cheerfulness? — 148. distrust you = distrust your health [Hudson] ? am 
solicitous about you [Schmidt] ?— 150. holds quantity = are in propor- 
tion to each other? keep their relative proportion [Clark and Wright] ? 
For holds, supposed to be an old form of the plural in s, see Abbott, 333, 
336. Quantity = proportion. L,Sit. quantitas, quantity, extent; quantus, 
how much. — 151. In neither, etc. = nothing in either, or else in ex- 
treme measure? no fear and no Ioax, or both in excess [Moberly] ? — 
153. sized. Small-sized, large-sized, are still in colloquial use. — 154. 
littlest. Comparative and superlative how regularly formed ? See the 
grammars. Gooder, r/oodest, badder, baddest, are found in Elizabethan 
writers. Inference as to the plastic, unsettled character of the lan- 
guage ? — 157. operant, active, operative ? — Lat. operari, to work ; opus, 
work. — Used again in Timon of Athens, IV. iii. 25, ^'operant poison." — 
163. wed. Imperative [Tschischwitz] ? — 164. v^^ormwood, absinthium? 
A. S. loermod, werian, to protect ; indd, mood, mind, courage. A. S. 
icermdd unquestionably means loare-mood, or "mind-preserver." It has 
nothing to do with 7vorm nor with loood. Skeat. — 165. instances = mo- 
tives, inducements [Johnson, etc.]? — 166. respects. III. i. 68. — 167. 
kill . . . dead. This phrase Icill dead occurs also in Titus Andronicus, 
III. i. 92, and Midsummer Night's Drear)i, III. ii. 269. May it mean kill 
my dead husband, or is it tautological? — 171-196. "Mr. and Mrs. Cow- 
den Clarke believe that these are the 'dozen or sixteen lines' of II. ii. 
525, because the diction is different from the rest of the dialogue, and is 
signally like Hamlet's own argumentative mood." Rolfe. Does not this 
supposition aitach too much value to the outward form, and too little to 
the intense desire of Hamlet to expose the murder V What do these lines 
amount toV What other lines hold up the. mirror at the very crisis? 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 121 

Player King. l do believe you think what now you speak, 
But what we do determine oft we break. 170 

Purpose is but the slave to memory, 
Of violent birth, but poor validity; 
Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree, 
But fall unshaken when they mellow be. 

Most necessary 't is that we forget 175 

To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt; 
What to ourselves in passion we propose, 
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose. 
The violence of either grief or joy 

Their own enactures with themselves destroy: 180 

Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament; 
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident. 
This world is not for aye, nor 't is not strange 
That even our loves should with our fortunes change ; 
For 't is a question left us yet to prove, 185 

Whether love lead fortune or else fortune love. 
.The great man down, you mark his favorites flies; 
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies, i 
And hitherto doth love on fortune tend; 

For who not needs shall never lack a friend, ' 190 

And who in want a hollow friend doth try 
Directly seasons him his enemy. , 
But orderly to end where I begun. 
Our wills and fates do so contrary run 

That our devices still are overthrown, 195 

Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own; 
So think thou wilt no second husband wed, 
But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead. 

See the matter discussed in Furness. — 171. purpose lasts but while 
fresh in_ memory ? — 172. validity = value, worth, strength, efficacy? 
Lat. valere, to be strong ; Lithuanian loala, Sanskrit hala, strength. — 
174. fall. Plural for singular on account of the intervening word 
"fruit," the construction being changed by change of thought? See 
Abbott, 415. Tschischwitz would read, "Like fruit unripe which now 
sticks on the tree ; " for " purpose " cannot stick on a tree. — See use of 
destroy in line 180. — 176. necessary = unavoidable ? natural [Hudson] ? 
— 180. enactures = determinations [Hudson] ? action [Schmidt] ? reso- 
lutions [Johnson] ? enactments [Wright] ? — 183. aye. A. S. a, ever, 
always; Gr. det, aei, always. — 184. loves = the love which others feel 
for us [Moberly] ? lovers, friends ? See Mer. of Venice, V. i. 168, " I gave 
my love a ring." — 186. Whether. Monosyllable ? II. ii. 17. Abbott, 
466. Must we reduce every line to a regular iambic pentameter ? — 
187. favorite. So all the early editions but one, which reads favorites. 
Says Abbott, 333, (and Furness, Corson, etc., concur,) " The Globe reads 
'favourite,' completely missing, as it seems to me, the intention to de- 
scribe the crowd of favorites scattering in flight.'' But how do they 
know that a croivd scattering w^as intended? Hudson, W^right, etc., 
read " favourite." — 190. not needs. So " not bites," Tempest, V. i. 38 ; 
" not doubt," Tempest, II. i. 121, etc. Abbott, 305. — seasons = matures, 
ripens [Schmidt] ? brings to maturity in his true character [Clark and 
Wright] ? confirms, establishes [Dyce] ? throws in an ingredient which 
constitutes [Caldecott] ? See I. iii. 81. — 194. contrary. Accent here ? 
I, iii. 59. — 198. die = let die? Is it third person imperative? subjunc- 



122 HAMLET. [act III. 

Player Queen, Xor earth to me give food, nor heaven hght! 
Sport and repose lock from me day and night ! 200 

To desperation turn my trust and hope ! 
An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope! 
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy 
Meet what I would have well and it destroy ! 

Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife, 205 

If, once a widow, ever I be wife! 

Hamlet, If she should break it now ! 

Player King, 't is deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here a while; 
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile 
The tedious day with sleep. \ Sleeios, 

Player Queen, Sleep rock thy brain; 210 

And never come mischance between us twain ! \Exit. 

Hamlet, Madam, how like you this play? 

Queen, The lady protests too much, methinks. 

Hamlet, O, but she '11 keep her word. 

King, Have you heard the argument ? Is there no offence 
in't? 216 

Hamlet, No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest ; no of- 
fence i' the world. 

King, What do you call the play? 219 

Hamlet. The Mouse-trap. Marry, how? Tropically. This 
play is the image of a murder done in Vienna : Gonzago is 
the duke's name ; his wife, Baptista : j^ou shall see anon ; 't is 
a knavish piece of work : but what o' that? your majesty and 
we that have free souls, it touches us not ; let the galled jade 
wince, our withers are unwrung. — 225 

tive used opt^ively or imperatively [Abbott, 364] ? — 202. anchor's 
cheer, anchoret s fare. Gr. avax(tip^lvi anachorein, to retire ; avax<^py)rri<;, 
anachoretes, a recluse, a hermit, one who has retired from the world. — 
scope = utmost aim. Gr. o-^cotto?, scopos ; Ital. scopo, a mark to shoot 
at. — 203. opposite = contrary thing ? obstacle? opponent ? — blanks = 
blanches, makes paleV — joy". Its natural color ? — 213. protests = sol- 
emnly affirms? — Often quoted? — 215. argument. III. ii. 122, II. ii. 346. 
Had the king and queen seen the dumb-show ? — 216. offence == in- 
tended offence, insult, or insinuation by Hamlet? The king means a 
moral " offence," Hamlet ^physical " offence," or crime [Delius] ? — 220. 
Tropically = figuratively, by a trope^ or turn we give things ? Nowhere 
else used by Shakespeare. — Gr. rpoTro?, tropos, a turning, the use of a 
word in a different sense from that which properly belongs to it ; as in 
metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony ? The quarto of 1603 reads 
trapically ; punning ? — 221. image = representation. — 222. duke's. 
Duke is used indifferently for king. — Baptista, usually a man's name ; 
occasionally a woman's. — 224. free. II. ii. 548. — 225. galled = rubbed 
sore (by saddle or harness) ? Old Fr. (jailer, to gall, fret, itch, rub ; Lat. 
callus; Fi.'gale, scab, hardness, cutaneous disorder. Bracket, — jade = 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 123 

Enter Lucianus. 

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king. 

Ophelia, You are as good as a chorus, my lord. 

Hamlet. I could interpret between you and your love, if I 
could see the puppets dallying. 

Ophelia. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. 230 

Hamlet. Begin, murderer ; pox, leave thy damnable faces, 
and begin. Come : the croaking raven doth bellow for re- 
venge. 

Lucianus. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agree- 
ing; 
Confederate season, else no creature seeing; 
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, 
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected, 
Thy natural magic and dire property. 

On wholesome life usurp immediately. 239 

\_Pours the poison into the sleeper's ear. 

a sorry nag. a tired-out horse. — withers = the ridge between the shoul- 
der-blades of a horse? A. S. icithre, resistance ; Goth, icithra, against. 
It is the part which the horse opposes to his load, or on which the stress 
of the collar comes. Skeat. — unw^rung= untwisted, unwrenched, un- 
galled, untortured ? — The emphasis to be placed on rjalled and oiir? — 

227. chorus. In the Greek drama, the company who were called the 
chorus beheld the scenes, and commented upon them in song. A chorus 
explains the action in Henry V., Winter^ s Tale, and Romeo and Juliet. — 

228. interpret. Every " Motion," or puppet-show, had its interpreter 
on the stage to explain. — love = lover? The allusion is to a puppet- 
show in which Ophelia and her lover were to play a part. Schmidt. — 

229. dallying = interchanging caresses ? sporting ? — 231. pox = small- 
pox be \\\)on thee ? or, thou small-pox ? A. S. 2^oc, a pustule. Pox is a 
corrupt spelling of the plural pocks, which Webster defines as " an ex- 
anthematic disease, consisting of a constitutional febrile affection, and a 
cutaneous eruption." Very naturally used to anathematize? — 232. The 
croaking, etc. Hamlet rolls into one two lines of an old familiar 
play. . . . "The screeking raven sits croking for revenge Whole herds 
of beasts comes bellowing for revenge." Simpson, 1874. The raven and 
his voice were ominous? Macbeth, I. v. 3(3 to 38. — 235. Confederate 
season = opportunity conspiring [Clark and Wright] ? No creature but 
time looking on, and that a confederate in the act [Hudson]? — 236. 
midnight weeds. So in Macbeth, IV. i. 25, " Root of hemlock digg'd 
i' the dark ; " and Virgil, ^neid, IV. 513, 514, ** messcB ad Innam qucerun- 
iur . . . Pubentes herboi nir/ri cum lacte veneni," downy herbs cropped 
by moonlight, with milk (sap) of deadly poison. — 237. Hecate's. I)is- 
syl., as in Milton's Comus, line 135 ? Hecate was a mysterious divinity, 
representing perhaps the phases of the moon. She was sometimes 
identified with Selene or Luna in heaven, Artemis or Diana on earth, 
Persephone or Proserpina in Hades. A threefold goddess, she is repre- 
sented with three faces or heads. She became a deity of the lower 
world, whence she sent demons and phantoms at night. She taught 
sorcery and witchcraft. Her approach was announced by the whin- 
ing and howling of dogs. — 239. usurp = let them usurp [Walker]? — 



124 HAMLET, [act III 

Hamlet, He poisons him i' the garden for 's estate. His 
name 's Gonzago ; the story is extant, and writ in choice 
Italian. Yon shall see anon how the murtherer gets the love 
of Gonzago's wife. 

Ophelia, The king rises ! 

Hamlet, What, frighted with false fire ! 245 

Queen, How fares my lord? 

Polonms, Give o'er the play 1 

King, Give me some light ! — away ! 

AIL Lights, lights, lights ! 

\_Exeunt all hut Hamlet and Horatio. 
Hamlet. Why, let the strucken deer go weep, 250 

The hart ungalled play ; 
For some must watch, while some must sleep : 
So runs the world away, j 
Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers — if the rest of 
mj^ fortunes turn Turk with me — with two Provincial roses 
on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, 
sir ? 257 

Horatio. Half a share. 
Hamlet. A whole one, I. 

For thou dost know, O Damon dear, 260 

This realm dismantled was 
Of Jove himself ; and now reigns here 
A very, very — pajock. 

245. false fire = blank cartridges? mere fireworks [Moberly] ? — 250. 
strucken. Repeatedly used by Shakespeare. He has also fretten^ 
fonf/hten, sweaten. Ahhotty 344. That is, the arrow has struck the king 
in the vitals [Moberly] ? — go weep. See the beautiful description of the 
stricken deer weeping " big round tears," in As You Like It, II. i. 33-40. 
— 254. feathers ''were much worn on the stage in Shakespeare's time" 
[Malone] ? — 255. turn Turk = undergo a complete change for the 
worse [Schmidt] ? change completely [Clark and Wriir'it] ? turn traitor 
[Hudson] ? — Provincial roses = rosettes of ribbons from Provins (near 
Paris), or Provence in South of France [Clark and Wright] ? Both 
were famous for roses. Such rosettes were worn on shoes by actors. 
Says Tschischwitz, ''It is clear that Shakespeare here wrote prot'/5- 
ional . . . that is, make-shift roses." Likely? — 256. razed = slashed or 
streaked in patterns [Clark and "Wright] ? embroidered [Hudson] ? 
" Some (shoes) of black velvet, some of white, some of red, some of greene, 
razed, carved, cut, and stitched all over with Silke." Stubbes, 1595. To 
7'aze = to stripe. Hudson. Some would read raised for razed, explaining 
by high heels and soles. Better? — cry = troop, company? a fellow- 
ship in a cry = a partnership in a company [Hudson] ? Cry is several 
times used by Shakespeare for pack of dogs, as in Coriolanus, III. iii. 
120, "You common cry of curs." — 258. share. Theatre receipts were 
divided into shares, of which each actor had a part of one, or had more. 
Ko one received a salary. Theatrical property was joint stock. See 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 125 

Horatio, You might have rhymed. 

Hamlet, O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's vv^ord for a 
thousand pound. Didst perceive? 266 

Horatio, Very well, my lord. 

Hamlet, Upon the talk of the poisoning? 

Horatio, I did very well note him. 

Hamlet, Ah, ha ! Come, some music ! come, the record- 
ers ! — 271 
For if the king like not the comedy, 
Why then, belike, — he likes it not, perdy. — 
Come, some music ! 

Re-enter Rosencrantz and Guildexstern. 

Giiildenstern, Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with 
you. 276 

Hamlet, Sir, a whole history. 

Giiildenstern, The king, sir, — 

Hamlet, Ay, sir, what of him ? 

Guildenstern, Is in his retirement marvellous distempered. 

Hamlet, With drink, sir? 281 

Guildenstern, No, my lord, rather with choler. 

Hamlet. Your wisdom should show itself more richer to 
signify this to his doctor ; for, for me to put him to his pur- 
gation would perhaps plunge him into far more choler. 285 

Furness. — 2o^, I = say I [Caldecott] ? Malone, Hudson, Singer, and 
others, change I to ay. AYell ? Ay or caje is ahvays printed I in the 
oldest editions. — 260. Damon and Pythias are Horatio and Hamlet? 
Story of their friendship? — 262. Jove. See III. iv. 56.-263. pajock = 
peacock [Dyce and Furness] ? This alludes to the fable of the birds 
choosing a king ; instead of the eagle, a peacock [Pope] ? Instead of 
peacock J learned commentators have argued that the right word was pad- 
dock, a toad ; puttock, sl kite ; meacock, sl cravenly bird ; baivcock, line 
fellow ; pajuck, doorkeeper ; patchock, clown ; hedjocke, hedgehog ! Leo 
suggests that Hamlet does not use any word at all, but leaves the line 
incomplete, and that pajock is a misprint for the stage direction [hic- 
cups] ! The peacock in Shakespeare's day had a very ill repute, " voice 
of a fiend, head of a serpent, pace of a thief," and was regarded as the 
incarnation of pride, envy, cruelty, lust. — 264. rhymed. To what V — 
266. pound. Shakespeare also uses shilling, mile, year, horse, etc., as 
plurals. Maetzner, vol. i. pp. 230, 240. See'V. i. 158.— 270. recorders. 
Bacon {Century, III. sec. 221) says the recorder is straight, with a less 
bore and a greater. See Milton's Paradise Lost, I. 551. — 273. perdy. 
Corrupted from French par Dieu. — 280. marvellous. See II. i. 3. — 
distempered = discomposed, overtaken [Caldecott] ? disordered (in 
mind or body) [Clark and AYright] ? Guild, uses it in one sense ; Ham- 
let applies it in the other? — 281. drink. Innuendo by Hamlet? — 282. 
choler — anger ? Gr. xo^o?, cholos, bile, wrath. '' Go, show your slaves 
how choleric you are." Jidius Ccesar, IV. iii. 43. — 283. should. II. ii. 
202. —more richer. So more nearer, II. i. 11.-284. purgation. A 



126 HAMLET, [act III. 

Guildenstern. Good my lord, put your discourse into some 
frame, and start not so wildly from my affair. 

Hamlet, I am tame, sir ; pronounce. 

Guildenstern. The queen, your mother, in most great af- 
fliction of spirit, hath sent me to you. 290 

Hamlet, You are welcome. 

Oidldenstern. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of 
the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a whole- 
some answer, I will do your mother's commandment ; if not, 
your pardon and my return shall be the end of my business. 

Hamlet, Sir, I cannot. 296 

Gidldenstern, What, my lord? 

Hamlet, Make you a wholesome answer ; my wit 's dis- 
eased : but, sir, such answer as I can make, yow shall com- 
mand, — or, rather, as you say, my mother; therefore no 
more, but to the matter : my mother, you say, — 30i 

Rosencrantz. Then thus she says : your behavior hath 
struck her into amazement and admiration. 

Hamlet, O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother ! 
But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admira- 
tion? Impart. 306 

Bosencrantz. She desires to speak with you in her closet, 
ere you go to bed. 

Hamlet, We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. 
Have you any further trade with us ? 310 

Rosencrantz, My lord, you once did love me. 

Hamlet, So I do still, by these pickers and*^stealers. 

Rosencrantz. Good my lord, what is your cause of distem- 

play on the legal and medical senses of the word ; clearing one's self 
from crime, and purifying the body? — 286. frame = order, orderly 
arrangement ? In Love's Labor's Lost, III. i. 188, " out of frame " = dis- 
ordered. — 288. pronounce. Lat. p?'o, forth, nuncAare, to tell, speak. — 
295. pardon = leave to go? I. ii. 56. Lat. per, thoroughly ; dundre, to 
give, doniim, gift. — 298. wholesome = reasonable [Schmidt]? sane, sen- 
sible [Clark and Wright] V — wit's diseased. Seriously spoken ? — 308. 
amazement = utter bewilderment ? perturbation ofmind? See 1 Peter 
iii. 6. A. S. a, intensive ; Norwegian masa-st [5^ = one's self], to lose one's 
senses, and begin to dream ; -ment, Lat. -men or -mentiim, result. — ad- 
miration = wonder ? I. ii. 192. — 307. closet. II. i. 77. — 309. shall as 
in II. i. 3 ? — 310. trade = business, dealing [Johnson] ? Is there a sneer 
implied ? Trade originally meant way of life, occupation ; from A. S. 
tredan, to tread. — 312. So. Coleridge sees much meaning in so; he 
would make it very emphatic. Does Hamlet falsify here? Does his 
old regard for his schoolmate shine out for a moment ?— pickers, etc. 
'' My duty towards my neighbor is ... to keep my hands from picking 
and stealing." Catechism^ Book of Common Prayer. " By this hand," 
was a familiar oath, as in Tempest, III. ii. oQ, 78. — 313. your cause of 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 127 

per? you do, surely, bar the door upon your own liberty, if 
you deny your griefs to your friend. 315 

Hamlet. Sir, I lack advancement. 
C Bosencrantz, How can that be, when you have the voice 
of the king himself for your succession in Denmark? 

Hamlet, Ay, sir, but ' while the grass grows,' — the prov- 
erb is something musty. — 320 

Re-enter Players with recorders, 

O, the recorders! let me see one. — To withdraw with you, 
— why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you 
would drive me into a toil ? 

Guildenstern, O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love 
is too unmannerly. 325 

Hamlet, I do not well understand that. Will you play 
upon this pipe ? . 

Guildenstern, My lord, I cannot. 

Hamlet, T pray you. 

Gidldenstern, Believe me, I cannot. 330 

Hamlet, I do beseech you. 

Guildenstern. I know no touch of it, my lord. 

Hamlet. 'T is as easy as lying ; govern these ventages 
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, 

distemper = the cause of your disorder [Clark and Wright] ? or is cause- 
of-distemper a compound noun ? I. iv. 73. — 317. the voice, etc. Allu- 
sion to T. ii. 109 ? The crown was elective, not hereditary [Blackstone] ? 
See V. ii. 343. — 319. while the grass, etc. The proverb in full, as 
given in Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra, 1578, is, " While grass doth 
grow, oft starves the silly steed." — 321. To withdraw, etc. = to have 
done with you [Capell] V to speak a word in private with you [Schmidt]? 
'' To withdraw with you ?" Is that your meaning (by the gesture you 
make) [Steevens and Caldecott] ? To draw back with you ; i. e., leave 
that scent or trail (a hunting term like that which follows) [Singer] V 
just step aside for a moment [Moberly] ? Various emendations are sug- 
gested, as So, or Go, for To ; but without authority. — 322. go about = 
attempt, undertake [Rolfe, etc.] ? go in a roundabout way to work ? — to 
recover the wind **is a term borrowed from hunting, and means to 
take advantage of the animal pursued, by getting to the windward of it, 
that it may not scent its pursuers." Hudson. Windward or leeward ? 
Clark and Wright explain thus : to get to windward of the game, so as 
to startle it and make it run in the direction of the toil. Choose ! — 323. 
toil. Lat. tela, web, thing woven ; texere, to weave ; Fr. toile, cloth. — 
324. if my duty, etc. = if I am using an unmannerly boldness with 
you, it is my love that makes me do so [Hudson] ? if my sense of duty 
makes me too bold, it is my love for you that causes it [Rolfe]? " Prob- 
ably ... an unmeaning compliment. As Hamlet did not well under- 
stand, . . . commentators maybe excused from attempting to explain." 
Clark and WrUjht. — 333. lying. Insinuating, or twitting. — ventages = 
air-holes of the pipe ? Lat, ventus, wind ; Fr. vent, wind. Ventages was 



128 HAMLET, [act III. 

and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these 
are the stops. 

Guildenstern. But these cannot I command to any utter- 
ance of harmony ; I have not the skill. 333 

Hamlet. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you 
make of me ! You would play upon me ; you would seem 
to know my stops ; you would pluck out the heart of my 
mystery ; you would sound me from my lowest note to the 
top of my compass : and there is much music, excellent 
voice, in this little organ ; yet cannot you make it speak. 
'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a 
pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can 
fret me, you cannot play upon me. — 

Enter Polonius. 
God bless you, sir ! 

Polonms. My lord, the queen would speak with you, and 
presently. 350 

Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that 's almost in shape 
of a camel? 

Polo7iius. By the mass, and 't is like a camel, indeed. 

Hamlet, Methinks it is like a weasel. 

Polonius. It is backed like a weasel. 355 

Hamlet. Or like a whale ? 

Polonius, Very like a whale. 

Hamlet, Then will I come to my mother by and by. -— 
[^Aside'] They fool me to the top of my bent. — I will come 
by and by. 360 

Polonius, I will say so. [_Exit Polonius. 

Hamlet. By and by is easily said, — Leave me, friends. 

\^Exeu7it all but H^ypiLET. 
'T is now the very witching time of night, 

perhaps coined by Shakespeare ? — 335. eloquent. The folios read ex- 
cellent. Any better? — 336. stops = the mode of stopping the ventages 
so as to make the notes [Singer, Hudson] ? sounds formed by stopping 
the holes [Malone] ? — 344. speak = discourse [in 335J ? — 345 ; 'Sblood. 
II. ii. 358. — 347. fret = annoy? use the stops? Play on the word ? 
" Frets are small lengths of wire on which the fingers press the strings." 
Dycef quoting from Busby's Dictionary. " Though you can vex me, 
you can not impose on me." Douce. — 353, 355, 357. Any real resem- 
blance ? or is Polonius dropping into his old habit ? — 358. by and by == 
immediately, very soon? So in the Bible, as Mattheio xiii. 21. — 359. 
fool me, etc. = humor me to the full heic/ht of my inclination [Hudson] 
to the utmost, as much as I could wish [Rolfe] ? For bent, see II. ii. 30. 
*' Polonius has been using the method, common in the treatment of all 
crazy people, of assenting to all that Hamlet says. This is what Ham- 
let refers to" [Hudson]? — 363, witching = witchcraft-ply ing ? A. S, 



SCENE III.] HAMLET. 129 

When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out 
Contagion to this world ; riow could I drink hot blood , 355 
And do such bitter business as the day 
Would quake to look on. Soft ! now to my mother. 

heart, lose not thy nature ; let not ever 
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom ; 

Let me be cruel, not unnatural. 370 

1 will speak daggers to her, but use none ; 
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites : 
How in my words soever she be shent, 

To give them seals never, my soul, consent ! [Exit, 

Scene III. A Room in the Castle. 
Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 

King. I Jike him not, nor stands it safe with us 
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you ; 
I your commission will forthwith dispatch, 
And he to England shall along with you. 
The terms of our estate may not endure 5 

Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow 
Out of his lunacies. 

Guildenstern. We will ourselves provide ; 

Most holy and religious fear it is 

vncca, a wizard ; loicce, a witch. Macbeth, II. i. 51, 52. Midnight ? — 364. 
yawn, in order to let forth the ghosts ? See the tremendous image in 

I. iv. 48 to 51. —366. bitter business. So the folios ; the quartos trans- 
pose Miter, so as to read hitter day. In which place is hitter better? — 
369. Nero (Emperor A.D. 54-68) murdered his mother Agrippina, w^ho, 
after the death of her husband Domitius, married her uncle, the Em- 
peror Claudius. — 371. speak daggers. So Lord Chatham: *'I have 
now a few words to say to Mr. Attorney (Mansfield); they shall be few, 
but they shall be daggers ! Felix trembles ! " See III. iv. 93 ; Much Ado, 

II. i. 223. — Is this thought of matricide creditable to Hamlet ? ^Yhy 
should he discuss it ? — 372. tongue and soul . . . hypocrites. How? 
— 373. shent = reproved harshly [Steevens] ? hurt, wounded [Hender- 
son] ? hardly entreated [White] ? threatened with angry words [Hud- 
son] ? punished JMoberly] ? A. S. scendan, to disgrace, dishonor, 
shame; Eng. shend, to injure, mar; blame, Wehster. — 374. Seals are 
what transform ivords into deeds, as in making law documents ? To 
give them seals = to confirm them by actions? carry the punishment 
beyond reproof [Hudson] ? 

Scene III. — 2. range = have free course? Fr. rang, a rank. The 
sense of "to rove" arose from the scouring of a country by troops or 
ranks of armed men. ISkeat. — 3. commission. Are they, then, con- 
sciously in the plot to kill Hamlet ? — 4. along. Ahhott,^.^ As to omis- 
sion of go, Ahhott, 405. — 6. near us. The folios read ''dangerous." 
Better?— 7. lunacies. Theobald suggested " lunes." The quartos 
have broives, which Steevens thought might be a metax)hor from horned 



130 HAMLET, [act III. 

To keep those many, many bodies safe 

That live and feed upon your majesty. 10 

Eosencrantz, The single and peculiar life is bound 
With all the strength and armor of the mind 
To keep itself from noyj^nce ; but much more 
That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests 
The lives of many. The cease of majesty 15 

Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw 
What 's near it with it : it is a massy wheel, 
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount, 
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things 
Are mortis'd and adjoin'd ; which, when it falls, 20 

Each small annexment, petty consequence, 
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone 
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. 

King, Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage ; 
For we will fetters put upon this fear, 25 

Which now goes too free-footed. 

Bosencrantz. 1 ^^r ^^^ u ^ 

Guildenstern. j ^^« ^'^^ ^^^^^ "«• 

l^Exeunt Rosencrantz a7id Guildenstern, 

Enter Polonius. 

Pdlonius, My lord, he's going to his mother's closet. 
Behind the arras I'll convey myself. 
To hear the process ; I'll warrant she'll tax him home : 

cattle ! Henley thinks that the king conceived of Hamlet metaphori- 
cally as a bull ! — Retaining the word lunacies^ and recurring to line 2, 
may we infer that the king noio thinks Hamlet insane ? or would have 
others think so ? — Scan. May the first two feet be dactyls ? — 9. many, 
many. Emphatic, like '* verily, verily"? — 11. single and peculiar 
life = the private individual [Clark and Wright]. — 13. noyance = in- 
jury (not to be printed 'noyance) [RolfeJ ? annoyance [Webster] ? 
Old Fr. cuioi, annoyance; Lat. in odio, in hatred; Fr. ennui. — 14. de- 
pends and rests. Abbott, 335. See III. iv. 200. — 15. cease = decease ? 
Cease of majesty = the king dying? deceasing majesty [Bailey]. In 
line 11 , life = the living man. Clark and Wright. — 16. gulf = whirlpool ? 
So used often in Shakespeare. — Fr. golfe, a gulfe, whirlpool ; Gr. koAtto?, 
kolpos, bosom, bay, lap, deep hollow. — 17. massy is five times used in 
Shakespeare ; massive, not at all. Rolfe. — 18. mount, etc. = at the top 
of the bank, at the edge of a mine [Moberly] ? — 21. annexment. Not 
found elsewhere. Clark and Wright. — 24. arm = prepare? Lat. ar- 
mare, to furnish with anna, i. e., with weapons or implements; furnish, 
equip. — 25. fear = object of fear [Rolfe, etc.] ? — 29. process = proceed- 
ings? — Lat. pro, forth ; cedere, to go ; processus, progress, going-on. — 
tax = charge, censure, reprove? — Lat taxdre, to touch sharply, inten- 
sive of tangere, to touch. — home = thoroughly, soundly, to the utmost ? 



SCENE III.] HAMLET, 131 

And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 30 

'T is meet that some more audience than a mother, 
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear 
The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege ; 
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed, 

And tell you what I know. 35 

King, Thanks, dear my lord. 

^ . . , . ^^ . . [Exit POLONIUS. 

0, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven ; 
It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, 

A brother's murder ! Pray can I not. 

Though inclination be as sharp as will ; 

My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,^ 40 

And, like a man to double business bound,/ 

I stand in pause where I shall first begin, .■ 

And bothjaegiect. What if this cursed hand 

Were thicker than itself with brother's blood. 

Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens 45 

To wash it white as snow ? Whereto serves mercy 

But to confront the visage of offence ? 

And what 's in prayer but this twofold force, — 

To be forestalled ere we come to fall, 

Or pardon'd being down? Then I '11 look up ; 50 

My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer 

Can serve my turn ? ' Forgive me my foul murder ? ' 

That cannot be ; since I am still possess'd 

Of those effects for which I did the murder, 

My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. 55 

III. iv. 1. — 30. you said = Polonius's own suggestion, which he, court- 
ier-like, ascribes to the king [Moberly]?. probability? — 32. them = 
whom? — 33. of vantage = by some opportunity of secret observation 
[Warburton] ? from the vantage-ground of concealment [Abbott y 165] ? 
(speech) having an advantage (in that nature makes the speakers par- 
tial to each other) [Hudson J? To " o'erhear of vantage " is to overhear 
from an advantageous position [Clark and Wright]? — 37. eldest. 
The earliest? See Genesis iii. 14, iv. 11. — 38. murder in appositioh 
with curse? or offence? — Pray; Account for defective metre. See 

1. i. 129, 132, etc. — 39. will was changed by Hanmer, Johnson, Heath, 
Keightley and others, on suggestion of Theobald, to 't will ; Warburton 
substituted tli' ill. — The distinction between " inclination " and "■ will " 
is philosophically correct [Boswell] ? — " No change is needed." Clark 
and Wright. *' The inclination is the craving or impulse, . . . the will 
is the determination of the reason or judgment." Hudson, See the trea- 
tises on mental philosophy. —45. rain enough. Macbeth, II. ii. 60, 61. 
— 47. confront, etc. = oppose directlv, and so to break down, the sin 
[Clark and Wright]? outface, etc. [Rolfe, etc.] ? — 49, 50, forestalled 
. . . or pardoned. Reference to " Lead us not into temptation, but de- 
liver us from evil " V — 51. past = what ? — 55. ambition = the realiza- 



132 HAMLET, [act III. 

May one be pardon'd and retain the offence? 

In the corrupted currents of this world 

Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, 

And oft 't is seen the wicked prize itself 

Buys out the law ; but 't is not so above : 60 

There is no shuffling, there the action lies 

In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd 

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults 

To give in evidence. What then ? what rests ? 

Try what repentance can : what can it not ? 65 

Yet what can it when one cannot repent? 

O wretched state ! O bosom black as death ! 

O limed soul, that struggling to be free 

Art more engag'd ! Help, angels ! Make assay ! 

Bow, stubborn knees ; and, heart with strings of steel, 70 

Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe ! 

All may be well. \_Retires and kneels. 

tion of ambition [Delius] ? — Metonymy ? — 56. offence = effects of the 
offence, or advantage gained by it? Metonymy? — He that does not 
amend what can be amended, retains the offence [Johnson] ? — Simi- 
larly explain " ambition " ? — 57. currents = courses [Schmidt] ? Many 
adopt Walker's emendation changing currents to 'currents = occur j^ents. 
See V. ii. 345. Their object is to avoid the confusion of metaphor in 
lines 57, 58. But what more natural than a mixed metaphor in the 
king's anguish ? See III. i. 59. — 58. by = aside V — 59. prize, etc. The 
Collier MS. reads purse. Better V ** The thing acquired by wicrked 
means " [Dyce and White] ? — 60. Buys out = is used to bribe [Rolfe] ? 
Instances ? — 60, 61, etc. See the splendid outburst of Queen Kathe- 
rine's wrath, '' Heaven is above all yet ! there sits a Judge That no 
king can corrupt." Henry F///., III. i. — 61. lies = is sustainable, can 
be maintained ? This, the legal sense of lies, is accepted here by most 
critics. Necessarily ? —62. his. " Neuter possessive " for its f See note 
on it, I. ii. 216. —compelled. Ellipsis? Ahhott, 228, 403, 95.-63. 
faults. Personification ? Picture the scene ! In our courts a witness 
cannot be compelled to criminate himself ; " but 't is not so above " ! 
— 64. rests = remains ? Fr. rester, to remain; Lat. ?'e, back, stares to 
stand, stay ; restare, to stay behind, remain. — 65. can. A. S. cunncin, 
Icelandic kenna, to know; Lat. (g) noscere ; Gr. yt-yvcoo-Ketv, gignoskein, 
to know. As "knowledge is power," the sense of ability gradually 
arose. — 68. limed = entangled, Insnared? To catch small birds, bird- 
lime (extract of holly-bark mixed with grease) being very viscous, was 
smeared on where they were likely to alight. The more they tried to 
extricate their feet, the more firmly were they held. — 69. engaged = 
entangled, hampered ? So in Milton's Comus, 193 ; Paradise Regained, 
III. 347. Ft. gage, a pledge, a pawn ; A. S. ivaed, a pledge, whence vjed, 
to marry ; ivages, pledged pay; icager, property staked. Lat. vas, vadis, 
bail, security, surety. " In architecture, engaged columns are probably 
so called because they are caught or entangled, as it were, in the wall." 
Rolfe. — assay == trial ? make assay = make onset, throng to the res- 
cue [Brae] ? — Are the words addressed to the angels, or to himself ? 
See quotation from Brae in Furness. — 11, i. 65. — 72. All may be well 



SCENE III.] HAMLET. 133 

Enter Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying ; 
And now I '11 do 't. — And so he goes to heaven ; 
And so am I reveng'd. That would be seann'd : 75 

A villain kills my father ; and for that, 
I, his sole son, do this same villain send 
To heaven. 

0, this is hire and salary, not revenge. 

He took my father grossly, full of bread, 80 

With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May ; 
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven ? 
But in our circumstance and course of thought, 
'T is heavy with him ; and am I then reveng'd, 
To take him in the purging of his soul, 85 

When he is fit and season'd for his passage? 
No! 

*' is remarkable; the degree of merit attributed by the self-flattering 
soul to its own struggles, though baffled, and to the indefinite half 
promise, half command, to persevere in religious duties." Coleridge. — 
73. pat = quite to the purpose, fitly ? The sense is due to an extraordi- 
nary confusion of pat, a tap, a light stroke, with Dutch j;a5, pat, fit, con- 
venient, in time. Skeat. — The quartos read "but " for " pat." Equally 
good ? — 74. heaven.'' I. ii. 182. — would = requires to [Abbott, 329]? — 
77. sole. Three folios hsiyefonle; one, foul. Warburton conjectured 
farn ; Heath , fool I Any need of change ? — 79. hire and salary. The 
quartos vesid base and silly . Allowable? — 80. grossly. Should this be 
gross ? in a gross, unshriven condition ? full of impurity ? With what 
word does it belong, took, ox father ? — full of bread = x-)ampered ? 
" This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and 
abundance of idleness." Ezekiel xvi. 49. See Wordsworth on Shake- 
speare's Knoicledge of the Bible. — As fasting was supposed to be con- 
ducive to sanctity, so the opposite, /whie.ss of bread, would lead to sin*- 
fulness ? — 81. broad blown. I. v. 7(). — flush = full of sap and vigor 
[Clark and Wright]? rosy red? — The folios have fresh. Which is 
preferable ? — Lat. fllnere, to flow; fluxiis, sl flowing? Or is it from Mid. 
'Eng. Jiushen, to redden, as " flushing " in I. ii. 155; akin to Swed.flossa, 
to blaze ? — 82. audit stands = account stands ? Warburton thinks 
Shakespeare forgot; " for the Ghost had told him very circumstantially 
how his audit stood." Ritson replies that Hamlet was doubtful how long 
the Ghost must remain in purgatory. Explanation satisfactory ? — Lat. 
audlre, to hear ; auditus, hearing, or audit, he hears. Audit is the tech- 
nical term for examination of accounts, debits and credits, or the sub- 
mission of an account?— 83. in our circumstance, etc. = according 
to human relations and thoughts [Delius] ? in the circumstance and 
course of our thought [Clark and Wright] ? in our circumstances and 
according to our way of thinking ? — Clark and Wright join " our" to 
" thought; " as in I. iv. 73, they join " your " to " reason," and in III. 
ii. 313, *'your" with ''distemper." — 84. 't is heavy = punishment is 
hard, it goes hard? In Henry V., IV. i. 128, 129, we read, "The king 
himself hath a heavy reckoning to make," i.e., at the judgment day. — 
85. to take = were I to take [Moberly] ? in taking? Abbott^ 356, 357. 



134 HAMLET. [act III. 

Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent : 

When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, 

At gaming, swearing, or about some act 91 

That has no relish of salvation in 't ; 

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, 

And that his soul may be as damn'd and black 

As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays. — 95 

This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. \_Exit. 

I King. \_Rismg'] INIy words fly up, my thoughts remain 

/ below ; 

Words without thoughts never to heaven go. \_Exit. 

Scene IV. The Queen's Closet. 
Enter Queen and Polonius. 

Polonius. He will come .straight. Look you laj^ home to 
him ; 
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, 

Macbeth, IV. ii. 69. " Gerundive use of infinitive " ? — 88. hent - hold, 
seizure [Johnson] ? grasp (on the villain) [Moberly] ? griji, occasion to 
be grasped [Clark and Wright] ? having, taking, opportunity [White] ? 
*' Hamlet's words would convey to the mind of a West-countryman a 
very forcible image ; the sword, in its shearing through the flesh, being 
cornpared to the passage of a ploughshare through the earth. This is 
the Welsh hynt, Old Welsh hent.'' John Davies, 1S76. — Hent, akin to 
hand? Goth, hinthan ; Lat. prehendere {pre-hend-ere) to seize; Gr. 
xavBaveiv, chandaueiu, to hold. — 89. drunk asleep = ** dead drunk " ? — 
94. soul, etc. ''This speech. ... is too horrible to be read or to be 
uttered." Johnson. " Yet some moral may be extracted from it, as all 
his subsequent calamities were owing to this savage refinement of 
revenge." M. Mason. " Here Hamlet flies off to a sort of ideal revenge, 
in order to quiet his filial feelings without violating his reason." Hud- 
son. " Shakespeare had a full justification in the practice of the age in 
which he lived. The true question is . . . whether or not Shakespeare 
gave a faithful picture of human nature in a barbarous age." Calde- 
cott. " Dr. Johnson's mistaking of the marks of reluctance and procras- 
tination for impetuous, horror-striking fiendishness ! — of such impor- 
tance is it to understand the germ of a character." Coleridf/e. " This 
refinement of malice here expressed by Hamlet is in truth only an 
excuse for his own want of resolution." Hazlitt. "As an excuse for 
not then executing the command [of the Ghost], it is poor and trivial." 
Hunter. — 95. stays = waits? — 96. physic, etc. Hamlet calls his tem- 
porary forbearance a physic which does not impart life to his foe, but 
prolongs his illness [Delius] ? Physic refers to the reasons Hamlet has 
been giving for not striking now [Hudson] ? Physic = delay [Moberl}^] ? 
— 97, 98. " 01], what a lesson concerning the essential difference between 
wishing and willing, and the folly of all motive-mongeriug, while the 
individual self remains ! " Coleridqe. 

Scene IV. — 1. straight. II. ii. 418. — home. III. iii. 29. — 2. broad 
=free, open, unrestrained. Macbeth, III. iv. 23. Note that words indi- 



SCENE IV.] HAMLET, 135 

And that your grace hath screen 'd and stood between 

Much heat and him. I '11 silence me even here. 

Pray you, be round with him. 5 

Hamlet, [ Within~\ Mother ! mother ! mother ! 

Queen, I 'U warrant you ; 

Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming. 

[PoLONius hides behind the arras. 

Enter Hamlet. 

Hamlet, Now, mother, what 's the matter? 

Queen, Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. 

Hamlet, Mother, you have my father much offended. lo 

Queen, Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. 

Hamlet, Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. 

Queen, Why, how now, Hamlet ! 

Hamlet, What's the matter now? 

Queen, Have you forgot me ? 

Hamlet, No, by the rood, not so : 

You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife ; 15 

And — would it were not so ! — you are my mother. 

Queen, Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak. 

Hamlet, Come, come, and sit you down ; you shall not 
budge : 
You go not till I set you up a glass 
Where you may see the inmost part of you. 20 

Queen, What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me? 
Help? help, ho ! 

eating largeness, as compared with those indicating smallness, are very 
likely to acquire an unfavorable sense, as if great quantity were incon- 
sistent with precious quality! Is this shown in comparing coarse and 
fine, broad SLiid delicate, gross and nice? — 4. silence iiie = use no more 
words [Johnson] ? keep silence even here (in my place of concealment) ? 
Hudson, Clark, Clark and Wright, Dyce, and others, change silence to 
sconce, meaning ensconce. Wisely ? Does *' silence," the uniform read- 
ing of the old editions, make good sense? — In Merry Wives of W., 
III. iii. 76, we read, "I will ensconce me behind the arras:" would 
Shakespeare be likely to repeat? or avoid repeating? — 5. round. II. 
ii. 139. — 7. Fear me not. I. iii. 51. — 12. wicked. The folios read 
idle. Better? Is "wicked" too strong? — 13. What's the matter 
now? Walker suggested that these words are the queen's: Hudson 
adopts the suggestion. Rightly? — 14. rood = cross, crucifix? "It 
would appear that, at least in earlier times, the * rood ' signified not 
merely the cross, but the image of Christ on the cross." Dyce. — A. S. 
rdd, a gallows, cross ; properlj^ a rod or pole. Skeat. Rolfe remarks 
that we have the word in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. — 18. budge = 
stir? — Fr. bouger, to stir. — Mer. of Ven., II. ii. 14, 15. — 19. set . . . 
glass. See III. ii. 20. —21. murder. Is Hamlet so furious that she 



136 HAMLET. [act III. 

Polonius, \_BeMnd'] What, ho ! help, help, help ! 

Hamlet, [Drawing'] How now ! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, 
dead ! [Makes a pass through the arras. 

Polonius, [Behind] O, I am slain ! [Falls and dies. 

Queen, O me, what hast thou done? 

Hamlet, Nay, I know not ; 

Is it the king ? 

Queen, O, what a rash and bloody deed is this ! 

Hamlet. A bloody deed ! almost as bad, good mother. 
As kill a king, and marry with his brother. 

Queen, As kill a king ! 

Hamlet, Ay, lady, 't was my word. — 30 

[Lifts ujj the arras and discovers Polonius. 
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell ! 
I took thee for thy better : take thy fortune ; 
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger. — 
Leave wringing of your hands : peace ! sit you down, 
And let me wring your heart ; for so I shall, 35 

If it be made of penetrable stuff. 
If damned custom have not braz'd it so 
That it is proof and bulwark against sense. 

Queen, What have I done, that thou darest wag thy 
tongue 
In noise so rude against me ? 

Hamlet, Such an act 40 

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty. 
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose 
From the fair forehead of an innocent love 

reaUy fears for her life? — 23. rat. This follows very closely l^he 
Ilystorie of Hamhlet. Had Shakespeare read it? — dead, for a ducat, 
dead = I'll lay a wager for a ducat that he's dead ? Other explanation? 
For ducat, see Webster's Dictionary and IV. iv. 20. — 33. busy = offi- 
cious y meddlesome ? like a busvbodv ? — A. S. hysir/, busy. — 34. wring- 
ing of. I. V. 175. Abbott, 178, 89.-37. braz'd. The quartos read 
brasd; Hudson, etc., birtssd. Any preference between the two? — 38. 
proof = impenetrable ? impenetrability itself ? Clark and Wright make 
"proof" and " bulwark " both adjectives here. — bulwark = fortified, 
impregnable? or, a fortification ? The association of proof with bvlioark 
suggests that proof may be a noun. Rolfe. — sense = feeling [Caldecott, 
Wright, etc.] ? reason [Schmidt] ? — 39. wag. So Henry VIII. , I. i. 32, 33. 
V. i. 257, ** No discerner durst wag his tongue in censure." Old Swed. 
wagga, to w^ag, fluctuate; Icelandic vagga, a cradle; akin to A. S. wagian, 
to bear, move, and to waggon. — This w^ord ?«ar/ was not in Shakespeare's 
time undignified. — 41. That. As and that seem to be used indifferently 
after such in Shakespeare. Abbott, 279. — 42. rose = ornament, grace 
[Boswell] ? Warburton thinks it refers to an actual flower w^orn on the 



SCENE IV.] HAMLET, 137 

And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows 

As false as dicers' oaths ; O, such a deed 45 

As from the body of contraction plucks 

The very-soul, and sweet religion makes 

A rhapsody of words : heaven's face doth glow, 

Yea, this solidity and compound mass. 

With tristful visage, as against the doom, 50 

Is thought-sick at the act. 

Queen, Ay me, what act, 

That roars so loud and thunders in the index ? 

Hamlet, Look here, upon this picture, and on this, 
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. 
See, what a grace was seated on this brow : 55 

Hyperion's curls ; the front of Jove himself; 

side of the face ! III. i. 152. — 44. sets a blister = brands as a harlot 
[Clark and Wright] ? Comedij of Errors, II. ii. 135. See IV. v. 101, 102. 
— Aside from the Ghost's statement, is there any evidence that she had 
been false to her former husband ? — 46. contraction = all engage- 
ments [Moberly] ? marriage contract [Warburton, White, etc.]? the 
making of the marriage contract [Clark and Wright] ? The word is not 
elsewhere in Shakespeare. — 48. rhapsody. * ' Mingle-mangles of many 
kinds of stuff, or, as the Grecians call them. Rhapsodies." Florio's 
Montaigne. Gr. pdnTeLVf rhaptein, to stitch or string together ; (ZSrj, ode, 
song ; hence rhapsody j a wild, disconnected composition. — 49. solidity 
and compound mass = earth [Knight, Wright, etc.] solid and com- 
posite globe ? — In Shakespeare's conception, the earth was an immova- 
ble mass at the centre of the universe [Clark and Wright] ? — 50. trist- 
ful ^sorrowful? — Lat. tristis, sad, mournful. — as against the doom 
= as if doomsday were coming [Rolfe, etc.] ? as if to face the judgment 
da}'? — A. S. d(Sm, judgment; akin to Gr. ^eV-t?, them-is, law; Eng. ^ 
deem. — 51. thought-sick = sick with anxiety [Clark and Wright]? 
supposed (to be) sick [Tschischwitz] V See note on III. i. 85. — act = 
dramatic act? — 52. index = prologue [Rolfe]? preface [Clark and 
Wright] ? In Shakespeare's time an index, or table of contents, was 
often prefixed. — 53. This picture, and on this. Are pictures of the 
former and the present king hanging there ? Or does Hamlet seize a 
miniature which he wears of his father, and one which his mother wears 
of Claudius ? Or are the likenesses with his "mind's eye " only ? Stee- 
vens well suggests that ''station" in line 58 implies a full-length por- 
trait ? See Furness. — 54. counterfeit = imitated, mimic ? Lat. contra, 
against; facere, to make ; Fr. contre,faire, contrefeit. — presentment = 
representation, portrait? " Counterfeit presentment, or counterfeit sim- 
ply, was used for likeness." Hudson. — 55. This brow. The folios 
and two quartos have his broiv. Preference? — Hyperion's. I. ii. 140. 
Hyperion, father of Helius, the sun-god, is often identified with Apollo, 
who is represented as " the perfection of manly strength and beauty. 
His long, curling hair hangs loose, and is bound behind with the stro- 
phium (wreath) ; his brows are wreathed with bay ; in his hands he 
bears his bow or lyre." See the Apollo Belvedere. — 56. front. Lat, 
frons, forehead. — Jove. TIL ii. 263. The majesty of the brow of Jupiter 
is suggested by the magnificent Vatican head. " See Milton's sublime 
description of Beelzebub, Faradise Lost, II. 302, etc. ; also Iliad, I. 528,^ 



138 • HAMLET. [act III. 

An eye like Mars, to threaten and command ; 

A station like the herald Mercury 

New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill ; 

A combination and a form indeed, 60 

Where every god did seem to set his seal, 

To give the world assurance of a man. 

This was your husband. Look you now, what follows : 

Here is your husband ; like a mildew'd ear, 

Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes ? 65 

Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed. 

And batten on this moor? Ha ! have you eyes? 

You cannot call it love, for at your age 

The hey-day in the blood is tame, it 's humble. 

And waits upon the judgment ; and what judgment 70 

Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have, 

Else could you not have motion ; but sure, that sense 

Is apoplex'd : for madness would not err. 

Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd 

57. Mars, the Greek Ares, was fierce and gigantic, but handsome withal. 

58. station = posture ? attitude in standing [Theobald, etc.]? — Lat. 
statio, a standing stiU ; siare, to stand. — Mercury, the Greek Hermes, 
messenger of the gods, was represented as the perfect embodiment of 
lightness and grace. So the famous statues represent him. See Class. 
Diet. — 59. new-lighted. " Shakespeare is fond of compounds with 
neifj.'' i?oZ/e.— heaven-kissing. In the jEneid, IV. 246, 247,252,253, 
Mercury '' in his flight espies the crest and steep sides of rugged [Mt.] 
Atlas, who with his top supports the sky," and on the summit, " pois- 
ing himself on his wings, he rested." Sumner, in one of his great 
speeches in the U. S. Senate, speaks of "the earth-rooted, heaven-kiss- 
ing granite that crowns the historic sod of Bunker's Hill." — 61, 62, 63. 
See Julius Ccesar, V. v. 73, 74, 75. See Pandora, Class. Dict.—(j^. ear. 
See Genesis xli. 5-7.-66. leave = leave oK, cease ? So in I. ii. 155? 
II. i. 51 ? line 34 of this scene ? — Gerundial infinitive ? ** When a verb 
is followed by another preceded by the preposition to, the construction 
must be considered to have grown out of the so-called gerwnd, that is, 
the form in -nne, i.e., the dative case. This is the construction with the 
great majority of English verbs." Latham. — 67. batten = fatten, feed 
grossly? — Icel. batna, to grow better; Goth, c/ahatnan, to profit; 
Gothic root BAT, preserved in better and best. — Milton has transitive 
battening in Lycidas, 29. — 69. hey-dey== frolicsome wildness ? — The 
word stands ior high-day , Middle English hey or heigh, and day. Shake- 
speare uses it in three other places as interjection. See Mer. of Venicey 
II. ix. 97 ; John xi:si. 31. — 71. sense -= sensation, sensibility [Staunton, 
etc.] ? reason [Capell] ? feeling [Clark and WrightJ ? perception [Mo- 
berly]? — 72. motion = impulse, desire [Staunton, Rolfe, etc.] ? emotion 
[Clark and Wright]? bodily motion' [Hudson] ? — 73. apoplex'd = 
paralyzed ? Gr. airo, apo, off; TrArjo-o-etr, plessein, to strike ; aironXrj^La, apo- 
plexia, stupor, apoplexj^ — err, so ? — 74. sense. The first sen.se [in line 
71] is sensation as necessary to bodily motion ; the second [in line 74] 
refers to the mind, and comes pretty near meaning reason [Hudson] ? — 



SCENE IV.] HAMLET, 139 

But it reserv'd some quantity of choice, 75 

To serve in such a difference. What devil was 't 

That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind ? 

Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight. 

Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, 

Or but a sickly part of one true sense 80 

Could not so mope. 

O shame ! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, 

If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones. 

To flaming youth let virtue be as wax. 

And melt in her own fire ; proclaim no shame 85 

When the compulsive ardor gives the charge, 

Since frost itself as actively doth burn. 

And reason panders will. 

Queen. Hamlet, speak no more ; 

Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul. 
And there I see such black and grained spots 90 

As will not leave their tinct. 

75. quantity = measure, degree [Rolfe] ? portion [Clark and Wright] ? 
See III. ii. 38 ; V. i.260. — 76. serve in such a difference = help your 
decision where the difference is so com^Dlete [Moberly] ? Sense was 
never so dominated by the delusions of insanity ^ but that it still retained 
some poicer of choice [Hudson]? — 77. cozened = cheated [Clark and 
Wright]? flattered, beguiled ?— (7o2;en is evolved out of cousin. Fr. 
cousineVf to call cousin, to sponge, to live upon other people ? See I. ii. 
64. — hoodman-blind = blind-man's-buff ? A. S. hdd = hood, a cover- 
ing for the head. Akin to hat? To hoodicink is to make one wink or 
close his eyes, by covering his head. Skeat. — 79. sans. Lat. si, if ; ne, 
not ; sine, without. Nares says the poets seem to have combined to 
introduce this convenient French wo?:d into the English language, but 
^'^.iled. Shakespeare uses sans four times in line 166, Act II. sc. vii., 
-^6' You Like It. — 81. mope == be dull, be stupid, be incapable of reason ? 
— Dutch moppen, to pout, grimace, sulk ; like mock and mop, from imi- 
tative root MU, to make a muttered sound. Skeat. — Why is this line 
left short? I. i. 129, 132, etc. — 83. mutine == rebel, mutiny ? — The 
original sense, says Skeat, is movement, well expressed by our commo- 
tion. Lat. motus, fTommovitus, moved; movere, to move; Old Fr. m,eute, 
sedition ; Fr. emeute. — See " mutines," V. ii. 6. — 87. frost, etc. Far. 
Lost, II. 595. — 88. panders will = panders to appetite ? Pandarus' 
name has become infamous through mediaeval romances that represent 
him as a pimp. Hence the verb. — 90. grained = darkly stained 
[White] ? deeply dyed [Skeat.] ? dyed in grain [Wright, Hudson, Rolfe, 
etc.] ? — Grain (Lat. granum, a seed) originally meant the dye kermes, 
obtained from the coccus (cochineal), insect. The round, seed-like body 
or ovarium of this insect furnished a variety of red dyes that were pecu- 
liarly durable. When the original sense of f/rain faded, and the word 
became expressive of fastness of color, then dyed in grain, originally 
meaning dyed with kermes, t\\Qn dyed with /a.s^ color, came to signify 
dyed in the vjool or other raw material ; because fabrics so dyed held 
their color remarkably well. See Marsh's Lectures on the English Lan- 
guage, pp. 66 to 74. — 91. leave their tinct = part with or give up their 



140 HAMLET. [act III. 

Hamlet. Nay, but to live 

Stew'd in corruption, — 

Queen, O, speak to me no more ; 

These words like daggers enter in mine ears : 
No more, sweet Hamlet ! 

Hamlet, A murderer and a villain ; 

A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe 95 

Of your precedent lord ; a vice of kings ; 
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, 
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole. 
And put it in his pocket ! 

Queen, No more ! 

Hamlet, A king of shreds and patches, — 100 

Enter Ghost. 

Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings, 

You heavenly guards ! — What would your gracious figure ? 

Queen, Alas ! he 's mad 1 

Hamlet, Do you not come your tardy son to chide, 
That, laps'd in time and passion, lets go by 105 

The important acting of your dread command? 
O, say ! 

dye [Rolfe, ^c] ? allow their stain to be blotted out [Moberly] ? So 
leave m Mer.^f Venice, V. i. 170. Tinct = d\e ; Lat. tingere, to tinge. — 
93. in = into? in was used freely for m^o in Shakespeare's time. Ab- 
bott, 159. 96. tithe = tenth part. A. S. tedn, ten ; teontha, tedt/ia, tenth. 
— 97. precedent = former ? — Lat. prce, before, cedere, to go. Observe 
the accent of this adjective ; accent of the noim (Mer. of Venice, IV. i. 
211) ; accent of "precedence" (Par. Lost, ii. 33). —vice of kings = buf- 
foon king [Clark and Wright] ? clown of a king [Rolfe] ? " An allusion 
to the Vice, or inferior comic character of the old stage, who, as his name 
implies, was generally wicked as well as ridiculous." White. The Vice 
wore a motley or patchwork dress, a pair of spectacles, and a wooden 
sword with which he used to beat the devil and sometimes tried to pare 
his nails. — 98. cutpurse. Purses were usually worn outside, attaclied 
to the girdle. Clark and Wright. — 99. stole, like a sneak thief, not 
having courage to take it by open force ? — 101. shreds and patches. 
This refers to'the motley dress of the fool, or Vice ? See line 96. — 102. 
Save me, etc. Addressed to whom ? See I. iv. 39. This ghost is sub- 
jective ? visible to Hamlet alone ? how attired ? come oj^portunely ? 
" Just as Hamlet's rage is on the verge of becoming impotent and ver- 
bose, it is restored to overpowering grandeur by the Ghost's re-appear- 
ance, . . . who with divine compassion interferes to save his erring wife 
from distraction." Moberly. — 105. lapsed in time and passion = 
having failed in respect both of time and purpose [Hudson] ? or, having 
allowed passion to cool by lapse of time [Hudson] ? having suffered 
time to slip and passion to cool [Johnson] ? diverted from the execution 
of his purpose by mere passion [Clark and Wright] ? given up to delay 
and mere sentiment [Moberly] ? — 106. important = urgent, requiring 



SCENE IV.] HAMLET, 141 

Ghost, Do not forget. This visitation 
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose. 
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits : 110 

O, step between her and her fighting soul ; 
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works. 
Speak to her, Hamlet. 

Hamlet, How is it with you, lady? 

Queen. Alas, how is 't with you, 
Jhat you do bend your eye on vacancy 115 

And with the incorporal air do hold discourse ? 
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep ; 
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, 
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements, 
Starts up, and stands an end. O gentle son, 120 

Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper 
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look? 

Hamlet. On him, on him ! Look you, how pale he glares ! 
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones, 
Would make them capalDle. — Do not look upon me ; 125 

Lest with this piteous action you convert 
My stern effects : then what I have to do 
Will want true color ; tears perchance for blood. 

Queen. To whom do you speak this ? 

Hamlet. Do you see nothing there ? 

Queen. Nothing at all ; yet all that is I see. 130 

Hamlet. Nor did you nothing hear? 

Queen. No, nothing but ourselves. 

Hamlet. Why, look you there ! look, how it steals away ! 
My father, in his habit as he liv'd ! 

immediate attention [Clark and Wright] ? momentous [Rolfe] ? — 110. 
amazement = bewilderment ? III. ii. 303. — 112. conceit = emotion 
[Moberly] ? imagination [Furness, etc.] ? — Lat. conceptiis, a conception ; 
concipere, to conceive. In Shakespeare, conceit = {l) idea; (2) inven- 
tion ; (3) mental faculty ; (4) imagination ; never the modern sense 
[Meiklejohn] ? — 116. incorporal = immaterial, incorporeal V — Shake- 
speare never uses corporeal nor incorporeal? — 118. alarm = call to arms? 
— Itsii. air ar me y to arms I — Doublet of alcnmm.—lVi). bedded = lying 
flat [Schmidt] ? matted [Clark and Wright] ?— " Bedded " suggested by 
" sleeping " ? — excrements = outgrowths, excrescences ? excretions ? 
As if from Lat. ex, out ; crescere, to grow. Hair, nails, feathers, etc., 
were excrements in this sense. Others derive it from Lat. excernere, to 
throw off, excrete. — 120. an end. I. v. 19. — 121. distemper. III. ii. 
280. — 125. capable = susceptible, capable of feeling ? — 126, 127. con- 
vert my stern eiFects = change my stern action? change the accom- 
plishment of mj^ stern purpose ? — 128. color = character ? — May we 
interpret color literally ? See line 91. — 133. habit = ordinary dress 



142 HAMLET. [act III. 

Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal ! 

[Exit Ghost. 

Queen, This is the very coinage of your brain ; 135 

This bodiless creation ecstasy 
Is very cunning in. 

Hamlet, Ecstasy ! 

My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time. 
And makes as healthful music : it is not madness 
That I have utter'd ; bring me to the test, 140 

And I the matter will re-word, which madness 
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace. 
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul. 
That not your trespass but my madness speaks ; 
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place, 145 

Whilst rank corruption, mining all within. 
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven ; 
Repent what 's past, avoid what is to come ; 
And do not spread the compost on the weeds. 
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue ; 150 

For in the fatness of these pursy times 
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg. 
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good. 

Queen. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. 

Hamlet. O, throw away the worser part of it, 155 

[Clark and Wright] ? — as he lived = as when alive, as if alive [Rolfe, 
etc.] ? At line 101, the stage direction, 1st quarto (1603), is, ** Enter the 
Ghost in his night gowne," i.e., dressing-gown. Macbeth, II. ii. 70. — 
136. Ecstasy. II. i. 102. — 141. re-vi^ord = repeat word for word ? Lat. 
re- or red- ^ again. — 142. gambol = skii:> ? — Lat. c/amba, hoof, or joint of ' 
the leg ? So Bracket, — 148. what is to come, i.e., if the future be as the 
past ? — 149. forgive me this my virtue = forgive this candor of vir- 
tuous reproof on my part [Clarke] ? O my virtue, forgive me this [Staun- 
ton] ? — 151. pursy = swelled with pamperings [Schmidt]? inflated - 
(with pride and prosperitj^) ? — Metaphor from a well-filled purse [Mei- 
klejohn] ? — *' The word has reference to the pantings or quick pulsa- 
tions of breath made by a pursy person." Skeat. Lat. pidsdre, to beat, 
push; Fr. pojisser, to push ; Old Fr. ponrcif, '' short-winded, or stuffed 
about the stomach." Palsgrave. Webster allows the spelling pussy, ' 
and this pronunciation is often heard ? — 153. curb and woo = bow 
and beg [Clark and Wright]? bend and truckle [Steevens] ? curb= 
keep back, refrain [Schmidt] ? Milton has '' bow and sue for grace," 
Par. Lost,l. 111. — Lat. ciirvare, to curve, bend ; curvus, bent ; Fr. coiir- 
ber, to bend. " Curb " ordinarily = restrain. — 154. thou, in the old writ- 
ers, is more familiar and affectionate than " j^ou." V. i. 116. — 154, 155. 
worser. Shakespeare has many double comparatives, and many times 
has loorser. II. i. 11. The singular felicity of this inspiring advice in 
reply to the queen's expression of heart-i)reak is worthy of Shake- 
speare's best mood. What does it show of his own tenderness and mag- 



SCENE IV.] HAMLET, 143 

And live the purer with the other half. 
Good night : but go not to mine uncle's bed ; 
Assume a virtue, if you have it not. 
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, 
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this, 160 

That to the use of actions fair and good 
He likewise gives a frock or livery, 
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night, 
And that shall lend a kind of easiness 

To the next abstinence : the next more easy ; 165 

For use almost can change the stamp of nature, 
And either master the devil, or throw him out 
AYith wondrous potency. Once more, good night s 
And when you are desirous to be blest, 

I '11 blessing beg of you. — For this same lord, 170 

\_Pointing to Polonius. 
I do repent ; but Heaven hath pleas 'd it so, 
To punish me with this and this with, me. 
That I must be their scourge and minister. 
I will bestow him, and will answer well 

The death I gave him. — So, again, good night. 175 

I must be cruel, only to be kind ; 
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. 
One word more, good lady. 

Queen, What shall I do ? 

Hamlet, Not this, by no means, that I bid you do : . 
Let the bloat king tempt ^^ou again to bed, 180 

nanimity? — 159. sense == natural feeling [Wright] ? sensibility, or con- 
sciousness of evil habits [Hudson] ? — eat = eat out [Hudson] ? destroy 
[Clark and Wright] ? — 160. of habits devil = the evil genius or fiend 
attendant on bad habits ? — 163. aptly = conveniently, with an easy fit ? 
— The meaning of this much-discussed passage appears to be, '* That 
monster, custom, who destroys all sensibilit}^ (or sensitiveness), the evil 
genius of our habits (that is, bad ones), is yet an angel in this respect, 
that it tends to give to our good actions also the ease and readiness of 
habit." Eolfe. —Habits, line 160, suggests /rocA; and livery, line 162? — 
167. master. This is the reading of a late quarto. It seems to injure 
the metre? Hudson reads " shame ; " others, " curb," " quell," " house," 
''usher," "aid," "hie there," "lay," "throne," "lodge*," "abate," 
"mask," "tame," " entertain," etc. — 169. blest of God, i.e., because 
of penitence ? — 170. beg, etc. = when you kneel to God, I will kneel to 
you? Any beauty in this idea?— For. I. iii. 5 ; v. 139? — 172. this 
man ? — 173. their = of Heaven ? — Heaven = heavenly powers [Hud- 
son] ? Shakespeare several times uses heaven as plural. How ex^^lain 
the construction of p/ec/sV7 it? — scourge. So Attila, "the scourge of 
God." — 174. bestow = stow away? See II. ii. 508. — answer = account 
for? — 180. bloat. On the omission of -ecZ, see I. ii. 20; III. 1.155; Abbott , 



144 nAMLEf. [act Hi. 

Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse ; 

And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses, 

Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers, 

Make you to ravel all this matter out. 

That I essentially am not in madness, 185 

But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know ; 

For who, that 's but a queen, fair, sober, wise, 

Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,. 

Such dear concernings hide? who would do so? 

No, in despite of sense and secrecy, 190 

Unpeg the basket on the house's top. 

Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape, 

To try conclusions, in the basket creep. 

And break your own neck down. 

Queen. Be thou assur'd, if words be made of breath, 195 
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe 
What thou hast said to me. 

Hamlet. I must to England ; you know that? 

Queen. Alack, 

I had forgot ; 't is so concluded on. 

Hamlet. There 's letters seal'd, and my two schoolfellows — 
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd — 201 

They bear the mandate ; they must sweep my way, 

342.-182. reechy = dirty ? — A. S. redcan, recan, to reek, to smoke; 
rec, vapor ; English i^eek^ smoke. The Scotch used to call smoky Edin- 
burgh '' Auld reekie.*' Skeat. — 184. ravel . . • out = unravel, disentan- 
gle. —185. essentially = really ? — 187-189. For who, etc. Ironical? 
Equivalent ? Being only a fair, sober, wise queen, of course she'll not 
hide such precious secrets from a human beast f — paddock. Icel. pad- 
da, a toad ; Swed. padda^ a toad or frog. The probable sense is *' jerk- 
er," i.e., the animal which moves by jerks. Sanscrit spand, to vibrate. 
-ock is dimin. as in hill-ock, hidl-ock. " Paddock-stool " is toadstool. 
Skeat. The boys in parts of New England still say "bull-paddock " for 
bull-frog. — gib is shortened from Gilbert, the old name for a male cat. 
The poetic name is now Thomas, or Tom ? The female was Graymal- 
kiu or grimalkin = little gray Molly or Mary ? {-kin is diminutive.) — 191 
to 193. The story is forgotten. So that in 192, 193, 194. — Reconstruct 
these fables. — See Rolfe's ed. or Fiirness. — 193. conclusions = experi- 
ments ? This is what voung Gobbo means in Mer. of Venice, II. ii. 30 ? 
— 198. to England. "^How did he know it? See IV. iii. 45. —199. 
forgot. The Elizabethan authors were inclined to drop the inflection 
-en, and so to curtail past participles. Abbott, 343. — 200. There's. 
"When the subject [of the verb] is as yet future, and, as it were, unset- 
tled, the third person singular might be regarded as the normal inflec- 
tion." Abbott, 335. — This and the next seven lines are not in the folios. 
Are they important V —201. fanged = fangless [Seymour, Caldecott, 
etc.] ? with fangs unextracted [Johnson, Schmidt, etc.] V In 2 Henry 
IV., IV. i, 218, we find '' fangless lion." — Adders with fangs ? or with- 



SCENE IV.] SAMLET. 145 

And marshal me to knavery. Let it work ; 
For 't is the sport to have the enginer 

Hoist with his own petar : and 't shall go hard 205 

But I will delve one yard below their mines, 
And blow them at the moon. O, 't is most sweet, 
When in one line two crafts directly meet ! 
This man shall set me packing ; 

I '11 lug the . . . into the neighbor room. 210 

Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor 
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave, 
Who was in life a foolish prating knave. — 
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you. — 
Good night, mother. 215 

\_Exeunt severally ; Hamlet dragging in Polonius. 

out? — 204. enginer. Like pioner, I. v. 163. — "-er is sometimes ap- 
pended to a noun for the purpose of signifying an agent." Abbott, 443. 
As to accent, Abbott, 492. — 205. hoist = hoisted ? " The verb is properly 
hoise, with pp. hoist = hoised . . . Dan. heise, hisse ; Swed. hissa, to hoist ; 
from the Scandinavian is borrowed Fr. hisser, to hoist a sail." Skeat, 
— petar = petard, a case filled with explosive materials; "an engine 
(made like a bell or mortar) wherewith strong gates are burst open." 
Cotc/rave. 't shall go hard = I will try hard [Hudson, etc]. Mer, of 
Venice, III. i. 57. — 206. delve. See V. i. 13. — 207. at = up to [Abbott, 
143] ? towards ? At is used like " near" with a verb of motion, where 
we should use " up to." So *' at foot " is " near his heels " in IV. iii. 
53. Abbott. — 208. crafts. Did Hamlet secretly pre-arrange the sea- 
fight and capture in Act IV. sc. vi. ? — Was his confidence due in part to 
his having his father's signet ? V. ii. 49 ? — 209. packing = going off in 
a hurry [Schmidt] ? contriving, plotting (with a play on the other sense) 
[Clark and Wright] ? loading myself and lugging off Polonius [De- 
lius] ? — 210. The coarse word which we have omitted in this line, the 
equivalent of " entrails," was not so indelicate in Shakespeare's time. 
Staunton thinks it is merely equivalent to shalloiv-pate. — It is supi^osed 
that for want of stage attendants, such servile offices as dragging out a 
corpse were sometimes necessarily performed by leading actors, and 
that suitable lines were introduced by the dramatist to explain the 
action, as here. Probable? — 214. to draw, etc. A mocking refer- 
ence to Polonius's interminable speeches [Meiklejohn] ? See Abbott, 
356, for use of ^0 ; and III. ii. 321, for dr«?(;. — severally = in different 
directions? — Moberly finds in the last four lines, traces of the story 
of Mary, Queen of Scots, married to her husband's murderer, and what 
was said by the porter over Kizzio's body at Holyrood. Fronde, VIII. 
254. — What progress is made in the plot in this tremendous scene ? 
What development of character ? 



146 HAMLET. [act IV. 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. A Room in the Castle, 
Enter King, Queen, Eosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 

King, There's matter in these sighs : these profound 
heaves 
You must translate ; 't is fit we understand them. 
Where is your son ? 

Queen, Bestow this place on us a little while. — 

[_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night ! 5 

King, What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet? 

Queen, Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend 
Which is the mightier ; in his lawless fit, 
Behind the arras hearing something stir, 
Whips out his rapier, cries, ' A rat, a rat ! ' 10 

And in this brainish apprehension kills 
The unseen good old man. 

King, O heavy deed ! 

It had been so with us, had we been there ; 
His libert}^ is full of threats to all, 

To you yourself, to us, to everj^ one. 15 

Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd? 
It will be laid to us, whose providence 
Should have kept short, restrained,, and out of haunt, 

[Hudson and some others make this Act III. sc. v.] Does this scene 
properly begin a new act, or is it a mere continuance of the doings of 
that eventful night ? — 1. profound. Two senses of this word here ? If 
so, to which does translate applj^ ? Has the queen been agitated beyond 
the power of speech? — 7. mad, etc. Is she obeying Hamlet's injunc- 
tion (III. iv., lines 179-186), keeping up the belief in his madness, and 
ingeniously making it the excuse for the homicide ? So Clarke, etc. — 
9. something stir. Is this truthful? — 10. Whips. He omitted, as in 
III. i. 8 ? The root of lohip is the same as of vib-rate, to shake, to trem- 
ble. The folios have He before whips, and and before cries. Plausible? 
— 11. brainish = brainsick [Schmidt, Caldecott, etc.] ? imaginary, un- 
grounded in fact [Clarke and Wright] ? crazy [Hudson]? — Not elsewhere 
used in Shakespeare. — 16. answered. See III. iv. 174; Julius Cmsar, 
I. iii. 113. — 18. short = with a short tether, under control, opposite of 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 147 

This mad young man ; but so much was our love, 

AYe would not understand what was most fit, 20 

But, like the owner of a foul disease. 

To keep it from divulging, let it feed 

Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone? 

Queen, To draw apart the body he hath kill'd ; 
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore 25 

Among a mineral of metals base, 
Shows itself pure. He weeps for what is done. 

King. O Gertrude, come away ! 
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, 
But we will ship him hence ; and this vile deed 30 

We must, with all our majesty and skill. 
Both countenance and excuse. — Ho, Guildenstern ! 

Be-enter Eosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Friends both, go join you with some further aid ; 

Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain. 

And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him. 35 

Go seek him out ; speak fair, and bring the body 

Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. — 

[_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Come, Gertrude, we '11 call up our wisest friends, 
And let them know both what we mean to do 
And what's untimely done ; [so, haply, slander,] 40 

Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, 

" loose " in IV. iii. 2 ? See I. iii. 125. — haunt = company [Steevens] ? 
frequented places ? — 22. divulging = being divulged, becoming known? 
" Certain diseases appear to be attended with an instinct of conceal- 
ment." Hudson. Lat. de for dis, apart ; vulgare, to make common. — 
2-4. apart = aside? See IV. v. 183. — 25. ore = vein of gold [Hudson]? 
precious metal [Clark and Wright] ? — A. S. or, seems to be merely an- 
other form of a?', brass ; akin to Lat. aes, ore, bronze. Skeat. *' Ore has 
here its radical meaning, — gold." White. — 26. mineral — heap of ore 
[White] ? mass or compound mine [Caldecott] ? metallic vein [Staun- 
ton] ? mine [Hudson, Steevens, etc.]? lode [Clark and Wright] V — 27. 
w^eeps. Truly? or is the queen trying to deceive the king and awaken 
pity for Hamlet V~ 36. fair = gently, kindly, courteously ? — 40. un- 
timely = unseasonably ? prematurely ? unfortunately ? Usually what 
'* part of speech " ? — so haply, slander. The words " for, haply, slan- 
der," were interpolated by Theobald to fill out the line and sense. Ma- 
lone suggested " so, haplj^ slanders," and these have been quite widely 
adopted. Tschischwitz s\iggests that we read, by this, suspicion ,• Strat- 
mann, so that suspicion ; Stauntou, thus ccdumny. Are the " discord and 
dismay," line 45, sufficient to account for the imperfection of line 40, 
and for any break in the sense or syntax ? — 41. o'er the world's di- 
ameter = in direct line to the antipodes [Moberly] V to the ends of the 



148 HAMLET. [act ly. 

As level as the cannon to his blank, 

Transports his poison'cl shot — may miss our name. 

And hit the woundless air. O, come away ! 

My soul is full of discord and dismay. [^Exeunt. 

Scene II. Another Room in the Castle. 
Enter Hamlet. 
Hamlet. Safely stowed. 

GuMeZtern. } C^^**/"''^] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet ! 
Hamlet. What noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, here they 
come. 

Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Rosencrantz. What have you done, my lord, with the dead 
body ? 5 

Hamlet. Compounded it with dust, whereto 't is kin. 

Rosencrantz. Tell us where 't is, that we may take it 
thence 
And bear it to the chapel. 

Hamlet. Do not believe it. 

Rosencrantz. Believe what? 10 

Hamlet. That I can keep your counsel and not mine own. 
Besides, to be demanded of a sponge, what replication should 
be made by the son of a king ? 

Rosencrojitz. Take you me for a sponge, my lord? 

Hamlet. Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his 
rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best 
service in the end ; he keeps them, as an ape doth nuts, in 

earth [Rolfe] ? — 42. level = direct, sure-aimed [Hudson] ? See level in 
Mer. of Venice^ I. ii. 33. — blank = the white mark at which shot or 
arrows were aimed [Steevens] ? Fr. Wc/?2C = white; Ger. blinken, to 
shine ; Gr. (/)Aeyetj/, phlegein, to shine ; Eng. blank, originally pale ; 
blanket, originally *' of a white color." Skeat. — 44. woimdless. I. i. 
145. Macbeth, V. viii. 9. — Suppose we interpret 40 to 44 thus: " and the 
untimely deed ; the rumor of which, speeding to the ends of the earth 
as straight as the cannon transports its poisoned shot to the white of the 
target, may yet miss injuring our reputation, and may hit the wound- 
less air." 

Scene II. [Act III. scene vi. in Hudson.]— 6. Compounded. 
Truthfully spoken ? — 12. to be, etc. See to take. III. iii. 85. " On be- 
ing questioned by," etc.? — 12. sponge. Frederick called Voltaire a 
squeezed orange ! See Moberly. — 13. replication = reply ? Julius 
Coesar, 1. i. 51. Legal meaning? — 15 countenance = patronage, favor V 
— 16. authorities = attributes or offices of authority [Rolfe] ? — 17. as 



SCENE III.] HAMLET. 149 

the corner of his jaw, first mouthed, to be last swallowed : 
when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing 
you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. 20 

Rosencrantz. I understand 3^ou not, my lord. 

Hamlet, I am glad of it ; a knavish speech sleeps in a 
foolish ear. 

Rosencrantz, My lord, you must tell us where the body is, 
and go with us to the king. 25 

Hamlet, The body is with the king, but the king is not 
with the bod3^ The king is a thing — 

Guildenstern. A thing, my lord ! 

Hamlet. Of nothing ; bring me to him. Hide fox, and all 
after. ^Exeunt. 

Scene III. Another Room in the Castle, 

Enter King, attended. 

King, I have sent to seek him, and to find the body. 
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose ! 
Yet must not we put the strong law on him : 
He 's lov'd of the distracted multitude, 

A¥ho like not in their judgment, but their eyes ; 5 

And where 't is so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd, 
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even. 
This sudden sending him away must seem 
Deliberate pause ; diseases desperate grown 

an ape. This is the reading of the quarto of 1603. Other readings are 
'* like an ape," " like an apple," ''like an ape doth apples." — 18. first 
mouthed, to be last, etc. = the first to be mouthed being the last to be 
swallowed ? or, first they are mouthed, and last they are swallowed ? — 
" Apes are provided with a pouch on each side of the jaw, in which they 
stow awaj'^ the food first taken, and there keei:> it till they have eaten the 
rest." Hudson. — 22. a knavish speech, etc. A proverb probably 
coined by Shakespeare. Clark and Wright. — 26. The body, etc. 
Numerous have been the interpretations of this passage ; none of them 
quite satisfactory. Perhaps this is as good as any : The body is with 
(i.e., close to) the king ; but the king is not with the body (i.e., dead, as 
he deserves to be). Dr. Johnson and some others think that it is inten- 
tional nonsense. Likely? — 29. Of nothings of no value? — Hide 
fox, etc. A children's game apparently, like hide-and-seek. Clark and 
Wright. Moberly makes ./ox = sword, and thinks Hamlet says ^^ hide 
fox,'^ as he sheathed his sword, " a Toledo or an English fox." White 
makes the exclamation to be " merely one of Hamlet's signs of feigned 
madness." 

Scene III. [Act III. scene vii. in Hudson.] — 4. distracted = discord- 
ant ? fickle ? senseless ? — 6. scourge = punishment ? — 9. Deliberate 
pause = a thing that we have paused and deliberated upon [Hudson]? a 



150 hamlet: [act iv. 

By desperate appliance are reliev'd, 10 

Or not at all. — 

Enter Rosencrantz. 

How now ! what hath befalFn? 
Rosencrantz. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, 
We cannot get from him. 

King. But where is he ? 

Rosencrantz. Without, my lord ; guarded, to know your 

pleasure. ' 

King. Bring him before us. 15 

Rosencrantz. Ho, Guildenstern ! bring in my lord. 

Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern. 

King. Now, Hamlet, where 's Polonius? 

Hamlet. At supper. 

King. At supper ! where ? 19 

Hamlet. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten ; a cer- 
tain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your 
worm is your only emperor for diet ; we fat all creatures else 
to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king 
and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but 
to one table ; that 's the end. 

King. Alas, alas ! 

Hamlet. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a 
king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. 

King. What dost thou mean by this ? 

Hamlet. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a 
progress through ... a beggar. 31 

King. Where is Polonius ? 

matter of deliberate arrangeraent [Moberly] ? III. iii. 42. — 12. be- 
stowed. III. iv. 174. —21. politic worms. 

" Of a diet of worms he [Luther] was forced to partake — 
Of a diet of worms — for conscience' sake ! " 

Alluding to the Diet of Worms, April, 1521, which some regarded as an 
assembly of politicians [Hudson]? — politic = polite, social, and dis- 
criminating [writer in Blackivood, Oct., 1853]? ** Worms feeding on so 
distinguished a politician must needs partake of his character and be- 
come politic" [Delius] ? so Joseph Crosby, quoted bv Hudson. — Your. 
I. V. 167 ; III. ii. 108 ; V. i. 162.— 24. variable. III. i. 172.-27. eat. 
The -en is dropped, owing to a very prevalent tendency in Elizabethan 
authors to drop this inflection, Abbott, 343. — Lines 26, 27, 28, are not in 
the folios. Needed ? — 31. progress = a royal journey of state? — We 



SCENE III.] HAMLET. 151 

Hamlet. In heaven ; send thither to see : if your messen- 
ger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. 
But indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall 
nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. 

King. Go seek him there. \_To some Attendants. 

Hamlet. He will stay till ye come. \_Exeunt Attendants. 

King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, — 
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve 40 

For that which thou hast done, — must send thee hence 
With fiery quickness ; therefore prepare thyself. 
The bark is ready, and the wind at help. 
The associates tend, and every thing is bent 
For England. 

Hamlet, For England ! 

King. Ay, Hamlet. 

Hamlet. -Good. 45 

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. 

Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. — But, come ; for 
England ! — Farewell, dear mother. 

King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. 49 

Hamlet. My mother : father and mother is man and wife ; 
man and wife is one flesh ; and so, my mother. — Come, for 
England ! \^Exit. 

King. Follow him at foot ; tempt him with speed aboard ; 
Delay it not ; I '11 have him hence to-night. 
Away ! for every thing is seal'd and done 55 

That else leans on the affair ; pray you, make haste. — 

\_Exeunt Rosexorantz and Guildenstern. 

omit the coarse word for " entrails." — 33. send. Because you cannot 
go in person? — 40. tender == have regard for [Furness] ? regard, cherish 
[Rolfe]? are careful of [Hudson] ? — Dearly is to be understood before ten- 
der [Delius] ? — dearly = heartily [Clark and Wright] ? I. ii. 182. — 42. 
fiery = as rapid as the progress of flames [Caldecott] ? fiery quick- 
ness = intensely hot haste ? — 43. at help. The A. S. prep, on, or an, = 
on, in, was contracted to a-, as in aback, abed, aboard, abreast, afield, afire, 
afoot, etc., and in Shakespeare's time it became fashionable to change 
the a-, then obsolescent, into at. This at often means near, close by, as 
in at foot [ = athis heels], line 52. — Abbott. 143; Gibbs's Teutonic Ety- 
mology, pp. 91, 92.-44. tend. I. iii. 83. —is bent. The folios read at 
bent, which Corson prefers as indicating suspended readiness. — 47. 
cherub. Beauteous and sudden intimation of heavenly insight and 
interference [Caldecott] ? — Cherubs are angels of love, and therefore 
they know how the king loves Hamlet [Moberly] ? — Is Hamlet, to keep 
up a show of madness, trving to make the king belicA'e he sees a spirit? 
51. one flesh. Biblical ? — Which father ? — 53. at foot. See line 43. 
— 56. leans = depends. A. S. hleoniany hlinian ; Lat. in-c/i?i-are, to 



152 HAMLET. [act IV. 

And, Eugland, if my love thou hold'st at aught — 

As my great power thereof may give thee sense, 

Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red 

After the Danish sword, and thy free awe 60 

Piays homage to us — thou may'st not coldly set 

Our sovereign process ; which imports at full, 

By letters conjuring to that effect 

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England ; 

For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 65 

And thou must cure me : till I know 't is done, 

Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. \_Exit, 

Scene IV. A Plain in Denmark. 

Enter Fortinbras, a Captain, and Soldiers, marcJilng. 

Fortinbras, Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king ; 
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras 
Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march 
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. 

lean. — 57. England = king of England? English nation ? — aught = 
any value [Clark and Wright] ? Aught is for a ichit, one whit ; and 
ovcfht is for o lohit, one whit : A. S. a for an, one ; ichit, a wight, creature, 
thing. ,SJceat. — 58. As is sometimes used in parenthetical expressions for 
**fqrso." Abbott, 110. IV. vii. 157; V. li. 324. — 59. cicatrice. Lat. 
cicatrix, scar of a wound. — 60. free = still felt, though not enforced hy 
the presence of Danish armies [Clark and Wright] ? willing, ready 
[Schmidt] ? unforced [Moberly] ?— " Or we may say that free awe pays 
homage = awe pays free homage." Rolfe, who refers to Schmidt's 
Appendix to Shakes. Diet., p. 1423, on Transposition of Epithets. — 61. 
coldly set = regard with indifference [Schmidt] ? esteem slightly 
[Clark and Wright] ? — 62. process = procedure, action V — 63. conjur- 
ing = earnestly entreating ? solemnly beseeching or invoking ? Lat. 
con. together, jvrdre, to swear. Con'jiire, to juggle, is the same word, 
and refers to invocation of spirits. The two senses had not yet differ- 
entiated the pronunciation in Shakespeare? — The quartos read congrxi- 
ing, which many prefer. Kightly V — 64. present. See presently, II. 
ii 170, 578. — 65. hectic = constitutional fever [Skeat] ? continual fever ? 
Gr. Ixco, echo, I hold ; e^t?, hexis, a possession, a habit of body ; Fr. 
hectiqne, hectic, " the fever of irritation and debility occurring usually 
at an advanced stage of exhausting disease." Webster. e/crtKTj v6ao<;, hec- 
tike nosos, consumption. Moberly. — Not elsewhere in Shakespeare. — 
67. haps. Icelandic happ, hap, chance, good luck ; A. S. gehaep, fit. — 
begun. During the utterance of the preceding line and this, the 
speaker imagines himself transported to the future and looking back, 
so that instead of finishing with the words ''my joys will ne'er begin " 
[the quartos read nere begin], he concludes, " my joys were ne'er be- 
gun." — Tschischwitz, with a soldier's daring, considering that gin 
sometimes means begin, takes a shot at the meaning thus : " my joys 
will ne'er be gmi " ! 

Scene IV. [In Hudson and some others, this is Act IV. scene i.] — 
3. claims. The (juartos have craves. 3ettef ? — 4, rendezvous, where 



SCENE IV. J HAMLET. 153 

If that his majesty would aught with us, 5 

AVe shall express our duty in his eye ; 
And let him know so. 

Captain, I will do 't, my lord. 

Fortinbras, Go softly on. 

\_Exeunt Fortinbras and Soldiers. 

Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others, 

Hamlet, Good sir, whose powers are these ? 

Captain, They are of Norway, sir. 10 

Hamlet, How purpos'd, sir, I pray you? 

Captain, Against some part of Poland. 

Hamlet, Who commands them, sir? 

Captain, The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. 

Hamlet, Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, 15 

Or for some frontier ? 

Captain, Truly to speak, and with no addition, 
We go to gain a little patch of ground 
That hath in it no profit but the name. 

To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it ; 20 

Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole 
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee. 

Hamlet, Why, then the Polack never will defend it. 

Captain, Yes, 't is already garrison'd. 

Hamlet, Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats 
Will not debate the question of this straw ; 26 

This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace, 

Fortinbras is to wait for the captain ? — 5. If that = if so be that? 
Abbott, 2^1, — Mer. of Venice, II. vi. 54, and III. ii. 216. — 6. express 
our duty = pay our respects [Hudson]? — eye = sight, presence? espe- 
cially used for royal presence. Steevens. — 8. softly = slowly, gently ? 
Julius Cijesar, V. i. 16. — The folios have "safely." Sense? — The rest 
of this scene, line 9 to the end, is omitted in the folios. Can it be 
spared? — 9. powers— troops, forces? Julius Ccesar, IV. i. 42. — 14. 
old Norway. I. ii. 28, 35; I. i. 61. — 15. main = chief power [Clark 
and Wright? country as a whole [Schmidt]? II. ii. 06. — 17. Pope in- 
serted it, Capell sir, 'dttev speak, to improve the metre. Wisely? — 20. 
ducats. The silver dticat was generally 4s. 6d. ; the gold, 9,s. Named 
from the inscription, " Sit, tibi, Christe, datus, quem tu regis, iste du- 
catus " = Be this duchy, which thou rulest, devoted to thee, O Christ ! — 
Ital. ducato. — farm = take on lease [Rolfe] ? — ''I would not pay five 
ducats for the exclusive privilege of collecting all the revenue it will 
yield to the state." Hudson. — 22. ranker = richer, more abundant? 
See note on I. ii. 136. — 22. fee. I. iv. 65. Fee, or fee-simple, \s "the 
tenure conferring the highest rights of ownership ;*" ownership abso- 
lute, simi^le, unconditional ? — 27. imposthume = inward sore, abscess? 



154 HAMLET. [act IV. 

That inward breaks, and shows no cause without 

AYhy the man dies. — I humbly thank you, sir. 

Captain, God be wi' you, sir. \_Exit, 

Rosencrantz, Will 't please you go, my lord? 

Hamlet. I '11 be with you straight. Go a little before. 3x 

\_Exeunt all except Hamlet. 

How all occasions do inform against me. 

And spur my dull revenge ! What is a man, 

If his chief good and market of his time 

Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. 35 

Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, 

Looking before and after, gave us not 

That capability and godlike reason 

To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be 

Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple 40 

Of thinking too precisely on the event, — 

A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom 

And ever three parts coward, — I do not know 

Why yet I live to say ' This thing 's to do,' 

Sith I have cause and will and strength and means 45 

To do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me ; 

Witness this army of such mass and charge. 

Led by a delicate and tender prince. 

Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd 



Gr. aTToo-TTjiixa, apostema, a separation of corrupt matter into an ulcer ; 
OTTO, away, off ; o-rry/xa from arrj, ste, base of l(Tr-qixi, I set, stand, place ; 
Lat. aposteina, abscess ; Old Fr. apostume. Here the prefix im-, as also 
in impoverish, is a corruption. Skeat. — 34. market, etc. = that for 
which he exchanges, markets, or sells, his time [Johnson, etc.] ? possibly, 
''the business in which he employs his time" [Clark and Wright] ? 
prime of life, the time at which he ought to exert his faculties to the 
best advantage and i:)rofit [Seymour]? — 36. discourse ^comprehen- 
sion ? [Jolmson] ? range of reasoning faculty [Clark and Wright] ? See 
I. ii. 150. — 37. looking before and after. A purely Homeric ex- 
pression. Theobald. As in Iliad, I. 343, " to view at once before and 
after " [future and past] ; Iliad, III. 109, 110, " looks at once both back- 
ward and forward ; " and so XVIII, 250. Had Shakespeare read Homer? 
Chapman's version of the Iliad was published in 1598. — 39. fust = grow 
mouldy [Wedgwood] ? Old Fr. fiisM, tasting of the cask ; ftist, log, 
stump, trunk of a tree. The Old Fr. fuste, cask, was named from its 
resemblance to the trunk of a tree. Skeat. — Not elsewhere used by 
Shakespeare. — 41. of = consisting in, or resulting from [Clark and 
Wright] ? in consequence of [Rolfe] ? — Hamlet envies the quick, reso- 
lute, energetic, and despises his own inaction. Rightly? —44. To do. 
Infin. active is often found where we use the passive. See Macbeth, V. 
vi. 5. Abbott, Sb'i). — 45. sith. II. ii. 6.-46. gross = fat, large, palpa- 
ble, obvious; coarse? III. iii. 80. — 47. charge = cost, expense? — 



SCENE v.] HAMLET. 155 

Makes mouths at the invisible event, 50 

Exposing what is mortal and unsure 
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, 
•Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great 
|[s not to stir without great argument, 

put greatly to find quarrel in a straw 55 

hVhen honor 's at the stake. How stand I then, 
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd, 
Excitements of my reason and my blood, 
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see 
The imminent death of twenty thousand men, 60 

That for a fantasy and trick of fame 
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot 
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause. 
Which is not tomb enough and continent 
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth, 65 

My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth J ^>^ \_Exit, 

Scene Y. Elsinore, A Room in the Castle, 
Enter Queen, Horatio, and a Gentleman. 
Queen, I will not speak with her. 
Gentleman, She is importunate, indeed distract ; 
Her mood will needs be pitied. 

Queen, What would she have ? 

Gentleman, She speaks much of her father ; says she hears 
There 's tricks i' the world ; and hems, and beats her heart ; 
Spurns enviously at straws ; speaks things in doubt, 

50. makes . • . event = mocks at the unseen issue? II. ii. 356.-54. 
argument = subject, matter in dispute ? " To stir without great argu- 
ment ... is not an attribute of greatness, . . . but to stir instantly and 
at a trifle when honor is touched." Furness. — 58. reason and my 
blood. See III. ii. 64. — 61. trick of fame = point of honor [Calde- 
cott] ? imaginary point of honor [Moberly] ? — " ' Of fame ' belongs to 
fantasy as well as to ' trick ' = an illusion and a whim that promises 
fame." Delius. —'RoUe cites As You Like It. II. vii. 152, 153, as a 
parallel or kindred thought. — I. i. 23. — 63. Whereon, etc. = not large 
enough to hold the armies that fight for it (Rolfe]? — 64. continent == 
receptacle, that which contains or encloses ? In Midsummer N. D., conti- 
nents means river-banks. Lat. con, together, tenere, to hold ; continere, 
to hold together, to contain. 

Scene V. [Hudson makes it Act IV. sc. ii.] — 2. importunate. Lat. 
importunis, unfit, unseasonable, troublesome; in, not, poi^ttis, harbor. — 
distract. I. ii.20; III. i. 155. ^^>&o^^ 342. — 3. will. II. i. 3. .4660^^315, 
319. —5. There's. III. iv. 200. ^66o^f, 335. —6. Spurns. Aryan base, 
SPARN, to kick against; A. S. speornan, to kick against. Akin to Lat. 
spernere, to despise. — Mer. of Venice, I iii. 108, "foot me as you spurn 
a stranger cur," etc. — enviously = angrily, spitefully? Lat. invidici, 



156 HAMLET, [act IV. 

That carry but half sense : her speech is nothing, 

Yet the unshaped use of it doth move 

The hearers to collection ; they aim at it, 

And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts ; lo 

Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them. 

Indeed would make one think there might be thought, 

Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. 

Horatio, 'T were good she were spoken with, for she may 
strew 
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. 15 

Queen. Let her come in. [^Exit Horatio. 

l^Aside'] To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is. 
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss ; 
So full of artless jealousy is guilt. 

It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. 20 

Re-enter Horatio, with Ophelia. 

Ophelia. Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark? 

Queen. How now, Ophelia ! 

Ophelia. [Sings] How should I your true love know 

From another one ? 
By his cockle hat and staffs 25 

Aiid his sandal shoon. 

envy; in, against; videre, to look; invideref to look witR evil eye against. 
English envy J malicious grudging. Envy in Shakespeare often = malice, 
as in Mer. of Venice, IV. i. 10; Julius CcEsar, III. i. 46; Mark xv. 10. — 8. 
unshaped'^ formless, confused ? Trisyl.? — 9. collection = gathering 
meaning [Clark and Wright]? inference, conjecture [Hudson]? en- 
deavor to collect some meaning [Mason] ? — aim = guess V — 10. botch 
== patch? Old Low Ger. and mod. Dutch botsen, to strike, beat; repair. 
Akin to beat; A. S. bedtan, beat. — 11-13. .Which thoughts, as her winks, 
etc., reveal them [i.e., thoughts], would make one think that much of 
an unhappy [i.e., mischievous?] character might be inferred, though 
there would be no certainty about it? — 14. she were spoken, etc. 
Scan. Walker makes she vjere one syllable. Is this necessary ? Abbott, 
461. —ill-breeding =mischief-hatciiing? — 18. toy . . o amiss = trifle 
(seems prelude to some great) misfortune ? Amiss is a noun in Shake- 
speare. Sonnets, XXXV. 7 ; CLI. 3. — 19. artless = ignorant [Moberly] ? 
— jealousy = suspicion ? Il.i. 113.— .20. spills = destroys ? A.S.spildan, 
spillan, to destroy; spild, destruction. The original sense of spild was a 
splitting, cleaving. Akin to split. Skeat. — It "betrays itself in fearing 
to be betraj^ed." Clark and Wright. Sir Joshua Reynolds ascribes the 
pathos of this scene to Ophelia's insensibility to her own misfortunes. 
Rightly ? — 25. cockle hat. The cockle shell, or scallop shell, worn in 
the hat, was the badge of a pilgrim. Cockle (Mid. Eng. cokel) is a bivalve 
with pretty corrugated shell. The word is akin to Gr. Koyxv, konche, 
Lat. concha, a muscle, cockle. — Byron, in tlie last stanza of Childe Har- 
old's Pilgrimafje, says, " Not in vain He wore his sandal shoon and scal- 
lop shell." Lov^ers assumed, sometimes, the disguise of pilgrims? — 26. 
slioou is a relic of the old Eng. iDlural in -e?i, as is ox-en, Milton's 



SCENE v.] HAMLET, 157 

Queen, Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song? 
Ophelia, Say you? nay, pray you, mark. 

[Sings] He is dead and gone,, lady,, 

He is dead and gone; 30 

At his head a grass-green turf^ 
At his heels a stone. 
Queen. Nay, but, Ophelia, — 
Ophelia, Pray you, mark. 
[Sings] White his shroud as the mountain snoiv^ — 35 

Enter King. 
Queen, Alas, look here, my lord. 
Ophelia, [Sings] Larded ivith siveet floivers; 

Which heicept to the grave did not go 
With true-love showers. 
King, How do you, pretty lady? 40 

Ophelia, Well, God 'ield you ! They say the owl was a 
baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know 
not what we may be. God be at your table ! 
King, \_Aside'] Conceit upon her father. 
Ophelia, Pray you, let 's have no words of this ; but when 
they ask you what it means, say you this : 46 

[Sings] To-niorroiv is Saint Valentine's day^ 
All in the morning betinie^ 
And I a maid at your icindow^ 

To be your Valentine, 50 

Comi(s,63o. ** This form was archaic in Shakespeare's time." Delms, 
Clark and Wright. — 37. larded = garnished [Caldecott, Hudson, etc.]? 
thickly strewn ? — Lard is fr. Lat. larda, lard; akin to Gr. Aap6<r, pleasant 
to the taste, nice, dainty, sweet. Skeat. — 38. did not go. This is the 
reading of all the early editions. Modern editors mostly follow Pope in 
striking out the not. Are we bound to correct Ophelia's incoherencies? 
But is this one of them ? — " His shroud or corpse did not go bewept wath 
true-loA'e showers, for his was no love case; his death had the tragical 
character of fierce outrage, and this was the primary and deepest im- 
pression on her lost mind." Caldecott. "Though the printers often 
omitted the negative (as once already in this play), they rarely added it." 
Kelghtley. — 41. 'ield == yield, reward? Originally yield ^-^^^ pay. A. S. 
gieldan, geldan, gildan, to pay, restore, give up. Skeat. — owl, etc. 
" Our Saviour went into a baker's shop where they were baking, and 
asked for some bread. The mistress of the shop immediately put a 
piece of dough into the oven to bake for him, but was reprimanded by 
her daughter, who, insisting that the piece was too large, reduced it to 
a very small size. The dough, however, began to swell, and presently 
became of a most enormous size. Whereupon the baker's daughter 
cried out, 'Heugh, heugh, heugh ! ' which owl-like noise probably in- 
duced our Saviour to transform her into that bird." (A Gloucestershire 
storv told bv Douce.) — Relevancy of the allusion ? — 44. conceit = 
thought? — III. iv. 112. —45. of = about? J^66o«, 174.— 47. Valentine's 



158 HAMLET, [act IV. 

King, How long hath she been thus ? 

Ophelia, I hope all will be well. We must be patient ; 
but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him 
i' the cold ground. My brother shall know of it ; and so I 
thank you for your good counsel. — Come, my coach ! — Good 
night, ladies ; good night, sweet ladies ; good night, good 
night. \_Exit, 

King, Follow her close ; give her good watch, I pray you. — 

\_Exit Horatio. 
O, this is the poison of deep grief ; it springs 
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude, 60 

When sorrows come, they come not single spies. 
But in battalions. First, her father slain ; 
Next, your son gone ; and he most violent author 
Of his own just remove : the people muddied, 
Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers, g5 
For good Polonius' death ; and we have done but greenly, 
In hugger-mugger to inter him : poor Ophelia 
Divided from herself and her fair judgment, 
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts : 
Last, and as much containing as all these, • 70 

Her brother is in secret come from France, 
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds, 

day. St. Valentine was said to have been martyred Feb. 14, A.D. 270. 
It was supposed that birds began to choose mates the middle of Febru- 
ary. '* The first girl seen by a man on the morning of this day was con- 
sidered his valentine or true-love." Prettily illustrated in Scott's Fair 
Maid of Perth? —b^. This is. Abbott, 461, and most commentators 
shorten these two syllables to one. Is it necessary ? — 60. O Gertrude, 
Gertrude. The quartos read, death and noiu behold, O Gertrude, 
Gertrude. The better reading? —61. When sorrows, etc. Is Shake- 
speare's military form of statement finer than " misfortunes never come 
singly"? — Spies = scouts V — The quartos read battalians ; two folios, 
battaliaes. — 64:. remove. See avovch, 1. i. 57; Abbott, 4:51.— muddied. 
Thick and unwholesome. Alluding to the ''bad blood" which Po- 
lonius' death had stirred up among the people [Clark and Wright] ? — 
66. greenly. I. iii. 101.— 67. hugger-mugger = confusion, hurry, and 
secrecy [White] ? — Shakespeare probably took the expression from 
North's Plutarch. Steevens. — Etymology uncertain. — Our ancestors 
were very fond of reduplicated words like bibble-babble, ding-dong, flim- 
flam, knick-knack, pit-a-pat, riff-raff, shilly-shally , zig-zag, dilly-dally ; in 
which words we notice a regular euphonic change, the slight sound 
in the first f>di,xt being a preparation for the larger sound in the second, 
alliteration adding smoothness. Hugger-mugger is different; it is sim- 
ple rhyme; as in hum-drum, higgledy-piggledy, Mirly-burly, hoity-toity, 
harum-scarmn, namby-pamby , hocus-pocus, pell-mell, helter-skelter, tag- 
rag, etc., etc., — words for the most part more expressive than elegant. 
Other illustrations? — 68. divided, etc. See ecstasy, II. i. 102. — 72. 
Feeds. The folios read keepes. As good ? — his. The quartos read this. 



SCENE v.] HAMLET. 159 

And wants not buzzers to infect his ear 

With pestilent speeches of his father's death ; 

Wherein necessity, of matter beggar' d, 75 

Will nothing stick our person to arraign 

In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this, 

Like to a murdering-piece, in many places 

Gives me superfluous death. \_A noise within. 

Queen. Alack, what noise is this ? 79 

King. Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the 
door. — 

Enter cmother Gentleman. 

What is the matter? 

Gentleman. Save yourself, my lord ; 

The ocean, overpeering of his list. 
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste 
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head, 

O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord ; 85 

And, as the world were now but to begin. 
Antiquity forgot, custom not known, 
The ratifiers and props of every word, 

Good sense ? — "The mysterious death of Polonius filled his son with 
doubt and amazement" [Clark and Wright] ? — in clouds = reserved 
and mysterious in his conduct [Theobald] ? at lofty distance and seclu- 
sion [Caldecott] ? keeps himself in clouds = keeps his intentions 
secret [Clark and Wright]? — 73. buzzers = whisperers, tale-bearers V 
Onomatopoetic ? — 75. wherein — in which pestilent speeches? — ne- 
cessity = the obligation of an accuser to support his charges [Johnson]? 
of matter beggared = having no proper data or basis of truth ? — 76. 
stick = hesitate ? — person. So the quartos; the folios read j^er sons. 
Preferable? See line 106. — 78. murdering-piece = a small piece of 
artillery, called a murderer, in which case-shot filled with small bullets, 
nails, old iron, etc., was used [Hudson] ? a rude mitrailleuse . . . which 
discharged stones so that they shattered into many fragments [Mober- 
ly]? — 79. superfluous death. Like '' twenty mortal murders" on 
Banquo's head? Macbeth, III. iv. 81. — 80. Switzers. ''Law, logic, 
and Switzers may be hired to fight for anybody." Nash's ChrisVs Tears 
over Jeriisalem, 1594. The Lucerne lion testifies how they fought for 
Louis XVL? **To this day the Pope's body-guard consists chiefly of 
Swiss soldiers." Meiklejohn. — 82. overpeering of = rising above, 
looking over [Rolfe] ? overflowing [Hudson] ? — Peer is fr. Low Ger- 
man piren, for pliren, to look closely. For of, see^I. v. 175; II. i. 92; 
Abbott, 178. — list = boundary, i.e. shore [Malone] ?' — List = a stripe or 
border of cloth, selvage. A^. S. list; Icel. lista, a border. See Gold- 
smith's Traveller, 283-292. — 83. eats = devours, swallows ? — 84. head 
repeatedly in Shakespeare = armed force ? — 86. as == as if ? Abbott, 107; 
III. iv. 133.— 87. forgot. III. ii. 118. Abbott, 343, 376.-88. of every 
word he utters [Toilet] ? every human establishment [Caldecott] V of 
every thing that is to serve as a watchword and shibboleth to the multi- 
tude [Schmidt] ? *' Antiquity and custom are the ratifiers and props of 



160 HAMLET. [act IV. 

They cry ' Choose we ; Laertes shall be king ! ' 

Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds, 90 

' Laertes shall be king, Laertes king ! ' 

Queen, How cheerfully on the false trail they cry ! 
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs ! 

King, The doors are broke. \_Noise within. 

Enter Laertes, armed; Danes folloiving. 

Laertes, Where is this king? — Sirs, stand you all without. 

Dalies, No, let 's come in. 

Laertes, I pray you, give me leave. 

Danes, We will, we will. \_They retire without the door, 

Laertes, I thank you : keep the door. — O thou vile king. 
Give me my father ! 

Queen, Calmly, good Laertes. 

Laertes, That drop of blood that 's calm proclaims me 
bastard, 100 

Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot 
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brows 
Of my true mother. 

King, What is the cause, Laertes, 

That thy rebellion looks so giant-like ? — 105 

Let him go, Gertrude ; do not fear our person : 
There 's such divinity doth hedge a king. 
That treason can but peep to what it would. 
Acts little of his will. — Tell me, Laertes, 
Why thou art thus incens'd. — Let him go, Gertrude. — 
Speak, man. HO 

Laertes, Where is my father? 

King, Dead. 

Queen, But not by him. 

King. Let him demand his fill. 

Laertes, How came he dead? I '11 not be juggled with : 
To hell, allegiance ! vows, to the blackest devil ! 

every sound word touching the matter in hand, the ordering of hnman 
society, and the st^te " [Hudson] ? — 93. counter = in the wrong direc- 
tion?" ''Hounds run counter when they trace the scent backward" 
fRolfe, etc.] ? — Lat. contra, in opposition, against; Fr. contre. — 102. un- 
smirched. Smirch, an extension from Mid. Eng. smeren^ to smear; Gr. 
(Ttxa-^iv, sma-ein; afx-n-x^iv, sme-chein, to smear, rub, wipe. Skeat. III. 
iv. 43. — 105. f ear = fear for? I. iii. 51. But for appetite, this king 
were kingly? Does the queen hold Laertes from striking? — 10(5. di- 
vinity, etc. A quite common belief till Charles I. and Louis XVI. died? 
— For hedge, see Job i. 10, iii. 21. — " Shakespeare never intended us to 



SCENE v.] HAMLET. 161 

Conscience and grace, to the profoiinclest pit ! 

I dare damnation. To this point I stand : 115 

That both the worlds I give to negligence, 

Let come what comes ; only I '11 be reveng'd 

Most throughly for my father. 

King, Who shall stay you ? 

/ Laertes, My will, not all the world ; 120 

And for my means, I '11 husband them so well, 
^'hey shall go far with little. 

King, Good Laertes, 

If you desire to know the certainty 
Of your dear father's death, is 't writ in your revenge, 
That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe, 
Winner and loser? 

Laertes, None but his enemies. 125 

King, Will you know them then ? 

Laertes, To his good friends thus wide I '11 ope my arms ; 
And like the kind life-rendering pelican, 
Repast them with my blood. 

King, Why, now you speak 130 

Like a good child and a true gentleman. 
That I am guiltless of your father's death, 
And am most sensibly in grief for it. 
It shall as level to your judgment pierce 
As day does to your eye. 135 

Danes, [ Within'] Let her come in. 

Laertes, How now ! what noise is that ? — 



see the king with Hamlet's eyes." Coleridc/e. — 116. To this point, etc. 
Liuther' 8 Hier stehe ich? ^111. both the worlds = this world and the 
next ? Not as in Macbeth, III. ii. 16 ? — 119. throughly = thoroughly ? 
— A. S. thnrc/h, through. Thorough is a later form of through. The 
fundamental notion is that of boring or piercing; A. S. thyrlian, to pierce 
through ; thyreU a hole so made. — Mattheiv iii. 12. — 124. writ. I. ii. 222. 
— 125. swoop-stake = indiscriminately ? The metaphor is from a game 
at cards, where the winner sweeps or " draws" the whole stake [Clark 
and Wright] ? Like a gambler who insists on sweeping the stakes, 
whether the point is in his favor or not [Moberly] ? — A. S. sicdpan (past 
tense, si6'ed):>), to sweep along, rash; swoop; A. S. staca, a stake, post; 
Old Dutch, stake, staeck, *' a stake for which one playeth." Akin to 
stack, a pile. — 129. pelican. See device on State Seal of Louisiana ! 
Allusion to the belief that the pelican pierces her own breast to feed 
her young ; a belief founded on the posture of the bird while feeding 
her young, and on the appearance of the " capacious pouch lined with a 
fine flesh-colored skin " ? See Furness or Rolfe. — Folio 1 has politician 
for pelican! — 133. sensibly = feelingly. The folios have sensible. 
Equally good ? — 134. level = direct, point-blank ? — 135. Let her come 



162 HAMLET, [act IV. 

Re-enter Ophelia. 

O heat, dry up my brains ! tears seven times salt, 

Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye ! — 

By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, 

Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May ! 140 

Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia ! — 

O heavens ! is 't possible, a young maid's wits 

Should be as mortal as an old man's life? 

Nature is fine in love, and where 't is fine 

It sends some precious instance of itself 145 

After the thing it loves. 

Ophelia, [Sings] They bore him barefac'd on the bier; 
Hey non nonny^ non7iy^ hey nonny ; 
And on his grave rains many a tear, — 
Fare you well, my dove ! 150 

Laertes, Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, 
It could not move thus. 

Ophelia, You must sing, Doivn a-down^ and you call him 
a-dotvn-a. O, how the wheel becomes it ! It is the false 
steward, that stole his master's daughter. 

Laertes, This nothing 's more than matter. 

Ophelia, There 's rosemary, that 's for remembrance ; 

in. Assigned to Laertes in the quartos. Wrongly? — 137. virtue = 
strength, power? Lat. virtus, manly excellence; t;'iV, a manly man. — 
139. by weight. The quartos read "with weight." As well? — 144- 
146. These lines not in the quartos. Are they of value ? — fine = spir- 
itualized [Moherly] ? delicately tender [Clark and Wright] ? — instance 
= sample [Moberly] ? proof, example [Clark and Wright] ? — the thing 
it loves = Polonius (in this case) [Clark and Wright] ? Ophelia's sanity 
has, as it Avere, been sent after Polonius ? — Some part of nature, purified 
and refined by love, flies off after the attracting object, after the thing it 
loves [Johnson] ? Moberly quotes In Memoriam, LXIV. — 149. rains. 
The quartos have rain'd, which Hudson retained. — 153. You must 
sing. A song found in a collection of 1618. Moberly. — 154. v^^heel = 
burden, refrain [Hudson, etc.] ? Spinning-wheel (to which the song 
might be sung)? *'A i^eculiar rhythm recurring at the end of each 
stave of a ballad, and which was sometimes produced by a rei^etition of 
tlie same words, . . . was called a wheel." White. — " From the Latin 
rota, a round, which is usuallj^ accompanied with a burden frequently 
repeated." Hudson. A roundel (Lat. rotundas, round, fr. Lat. rota, 
wheel, with sufiix -undus) is so called from the first line's coming round 
again. /S'A-ea^ — false, etc. Story lost? — 156. matter = sense, mean- 
ing? II. ii. 95. — 157. rosemary "was supposed to strengthen the 
memory, hence it came to symbolize remembrance and fidelity. ... It 
was therefore worn at funerals and weddings" [Clark and Wright] ? 
Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 74, 75, 76. — Rosemary (Lat. ros, dew; maris, of 
the sea ; Ovid has ros maris, sea-dew), an everr/recn shrub named from 
some fancied connection with the sea. In English it seems to have 



SCENE v.] HAMLET. 163 

pray you, love, remember : and there is pansies, that 's for 
thoughts. 

Laertes. A document in madness, thoughts and remem- 
brance fitted. 160 

Ophelia, There 's fennel for you, and columbines ; there 's 
rue for you ; and here 's some for me ; we may call it herb 
of grace o' Sundays ; O, you must wear your rue with a dif- 
ference. There 's a daisy : I would give you some violets, 
but they withered all when my father died ; they say he made 
a good end, — 

[Sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy. 

Laertes. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, 
She turns to favor and to prettiness. 

been altered from rosmarine to rosemary, from a popular etymology 
collecting it with a ?'ose of Mary. Skeat. — 158. love. In her bewilder- 
ment does she give the rosemary to Laertes with a vague notion that 
she is giving it to Hamlet ? and the pansies, too? (Fr. pensee, thought; 
penser, Lat. pensare, to think ; pendei^e, to weigh. Called, also, '* heart's- 
ease " ? — 159. document = precept, instruction, lesson? Liat. docere, 
to teach ; menium, suffix denoting means, subject, act, or result. — The 
word has lost its etymological sense?— 161. fennel. Emblem of flat- 
tery ? It was said also to clear the sight. Did Ophelia therefore give 
it to the king? Fennel is fragrant, and supposed to have many virtues. 
(A.S.Jinol; Mid. Eng. /eneZ ; LiSbt. feniculum, fennel ; ir. Liat. fenum, 
hay.) See Longfellow's Goblet of Life. — columbines. Signifying 
thanklessness? cuckoldom ? forsaken love? Given, like the fennel, to 
the king? Lat. columha, dove ; columbinus, dove-like, '' so called from 
the beak-like spurs of its flowers." Webster. — 162. rue. Symbol of 
sorry remembrance [Schmidt] ? repentance ? sorrow ? A. S. hredioan, 
to sorrow, to grieve,? — herb of grace. " The priests forced the ' pos- 
sessed ' to swallow it on Sundays in church, to cast out the evil spirit." 
— The queen may with peculiar propriety on Sundays, when she solicits 
pardon, . . . call her rue herb of grace [Malone] ? — Called herb-f/race 
from the moral and medicinal virtues ascribed to it [Hudson] ? Malone 
shows that **herb of grace was wormwood." Caldecott. — Rue has a 
strong, heavy odor, and a bitter taste. — 163. with a diiference, be- 
cause your sorrow has a different origin from mine ? — *' It is sometimes 
called herb of grace, and in that sense I take some for myself; with a 
slight difference of spelling it means ridh, and in that respect it will do 
for you." Skeat, who savs this is Shakespeare's own explanation in 
Richard IL, III. iv. 104-107. But — ?— 164. daisy. Type of dissem- 
bling ? given to the king ? or queen ? Henley says that Greene calls it 
*' the dissembling daisy." Chaucer loves it above all other flowers, as 
he repeatedly says in his Legend of Good Women. — A. S. daeges, day's ; 
ege, eye ; daegesege, day's-eye. The eye of day is the sun ? Resem- 
blance ? — violets. From " Sonnets," published in 1584, Malone quotes 
*' Violet is for faithfulness." To whom would she give these? To 
Horatio [Clark and Wright] Gr. loi', ion, for fiou, vion, violet ; Lat. 
vidla, violet. — I. iii. 7; V. i. 229. — 167. Robin, etc. A familiar ballad 
of the time. — 168. thought = melancholy [Malone]? grief, anxiety, 
trouble, care [Rolfe, Hudson, Clark, etc.]? III. i. 85. — passion = vio- 
lent sorrow [Schmidt]? Suffering [Furness]? Gr. irdOeLv, pathein; Lat. 
pati, to bear, suffer, undergo ; passio, suffering. — 169. favor = attrac- 



164 HAMLET, [act IV. 

Ophelia, [Sings] And tvill he not come again? 170 

And tvill he not come again?'^ 

iVb, no, he is dead; 

Go to thy death-bed, 
He never will come again. 175 

His heard ivas ivhite as snow^ 

All flaxen ivas his poll; 
He is gone, he is gone^ 
And tve cast cttvay moan : 

God ha' mercy on his soid ! 179 

And of all Christian souls, I pray God. —God be wi' ye. 

\_Exit. 

Laertes, Do you see this, O God? 

King, Laertes, I must commune with your grief, 
Or you deny me right. Go but apart, 
Make choice of whom, your wisest friends, you will, 
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me. 135 

If by direct or by collateral hand 
They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give, 
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours, 
To you in satisfaction ; but if not, 

Be you content to lend your patience to us, 190 

And we shall jointly labor with your soul 
To give it due content. 

Laertes. Let this be so ; 

His means of death, his obscure funeral — 
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones. 
No noble rite nor formal ostentation — 195 



tiveness, grace, charm V — 176. poll = the head ; especiaUy the back of 
it, or the rounded part of the head. — 179. The folios have Gramercy. To 
avoid the sacred name? II. i. 76. — 180. of = onV For 0/, see Abbott, 
165-181. — 179, 180. The common conclusion to many ancient monu- 
mental inscriptions. Steevens. — 182. commune. Accent? The 1st folio 
has common, substantially the same word once. — 187. touched = im- 
plicated, accessory? — 193. his means of = the means of his ? I. iv. 73; 
III. ii. 313. Abbott, 423. — obscure. Accent? Usually on first syllable 
in Shakespeare? Macbeth, II. iii. 40; Mer. of Venice, Il.Vii. 51. — burial. 
The quartos have funer'al. Preferable? — 194. hatchment = the 
escutcheon (of a deceased person) publicly displayed. Atch^ment, short- 
ened from achievement, and pronounced by the Englishman /latchment, 
is 'the heraldic name of the escutcheon, or field or ground on which a 
coat of arms is represented. Webster^ s Diet. — 195. ostentation, or os- 
tent, seems to have been a term which fashion had in some sort appro- 



SCENE VI.] HAMLET 165 

Cry to be heard, as 't were from heaven to earth, 
That I must call 't in question. 

King, So you shall ; 

And where the offence is let the great axe fall. 
I pray you, go with me. [Exeunt. 



Scene VI. Another Room in the Castle. 
Enter Horatio and a Servant. 

Horatio. What are they that would speak with me? 

Servant. Sailors, sir ; they say they have letters for you. 

Horatio. Let them come in. — [Exit Servant. 

I do not know from what part of the world 
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet. 5 

Enter Sailors. 

1 Sailor. God bless you, sir. 

Horatio. Let him bless thee too. 

1 Sailor. He shall, sir, an 't please him. There 's a letter 
for you, sir — it comes from the ambassador that was bound 
for England — if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know 
it is. 11 

Horatio. [Reads] ' Horatio^ ivhen thou shalt have over- 
looked this^ give these fellows some means to the king; they 
have letters for him. Ere tve icere ttvo days old at sea^ a 
pirate of very loarlike appointment gave us chase. Finding 

priated to funeral pomp, etc. Caldecotf. — 197. that = so that ? Julius 
Ccesa)', I. i. 45, " That Tiber trembled underneath her banks." Abbott, 
283. — 198. the great axe. Felicitous V — Could Scene V. have been 
spared? How, if at all, does it help? 

Scene VI. — How long a time between scene v. and this ? — 1. What = 
who? " Often used so, but only in the predicate." '' Often used appa- 
rently . . . where we should use ivho, especially in the phrase ' what is 
he?'" Schmidt. "But in the Elizabethan and earlier periods, when 
the distinction in ranks was much more marked than now, it may have 
seemed natural to ask, as the first question about any one, ' of what 
condition or rank is he?'" Abbott, 254:. — 10. let = caused [Clark and 
Wright, Schmidt, etc.]? allowed, suffered, permitted? A. S. Idtan, to 
permit. I. iv. 85. — Let, to suffer, and let, to hinder, may either take or 
omit to in Shakespeare. — 12. overlooked = looked over, read? — 13. 
means, of access, introduction? — days old. In Comedy of Er., II. 11. 
147, we read,* " In Ephesus I am but two hours old." — 15. 'appointment 
= armament, equii:)ment ? Old Fr. apointer, to prepare, arrange ; Lat. ad, 
to; Low Lat punctare, to mark by a prick; pumjere, base pug ov puk^ 



166 HAMLET. [act IV. 

ourselves too sloiv of sail^ we put on a compelled valor; in the 
grapple I hoarded them : on the instant they got clear of our 
ship ; so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with 
me like thieves of mercy : but they knew Ivhat they did; I am 
to do a good turn for them. Let the king have the letters I 
have sent ; and repair thou to me with as much speed as thou 
ivouldst fly death, I have tvords to speak in thine ear will 
make thee dumb ; yet are they much too light for the bore of 
the matter. These good fellows ivill bring thee where I am, 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England; 
of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell, 

' He that thou knoivest thine^ Hamlet.' 

Come, I will make you way for these your letters ; 27 

And do 't the speedier, that you may direct me 
To him from whom you brought them. \_Exeunt, 

Scene VII. Another Boom in the Castle. 
Enter King and Laertes. 

King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal, 
And you must put me in your heart for friend, 
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear, 
That he which hath your noble father slain 
Pursued my life. 

Laertes. It well appears ; but tell me 5 

to prick. — 16. compelled = enforced, involuntary ? — 18. thieves of 

mercy = merciful thieves ? See " sisters of mercy; " to " brow of woe," . 
I. ii. iv. ; III. i. 69. — 19. they knew, etc. It has been strongly argued 
that this capture was pre-arranged bv Hamlet; hinted at in IV. iii. 47; 
III. iv. 203-208, with a pun on "crafts" (vessels !). See V. ii. Col- 
lect and weigh the arguments i^ro and con. — 21. as thou, etc. As = as 
though, or we must supply "withal" after death [Clark and Wright] ? 
Abbott, 384. — 22. will = which will ? Abbott, 244. — 23. bore, etc. = 
calibre of the facts [Rolfe] ? the matter would carry heavier words 
[Johnson] ? *' A metaphor from a gun-barrel, which, in proportion to 
the size of its bore, requires a heavier charge." Clark and Wright. The 
unvexed Tschischwitz will have it that bore is a verbal substantive from ' 
"to bear," and means " capacity for bearing"! — A. S. borian, Dutch 
boren, to pierce, perforate. — 27. make. The folios have give. The 
early quartos omit make. —Does this letter throw light on the question 
of Hamlet's sanity ? Note its sinewy Saxon speech. 

Scene VII. — 1. Acquittance = discharge? receipt in full? See 
* quietns, III. i. 75. Low Lat. acquietare, to settle a claim, to set a claim 
at rest; ad, to, at; qnies, quietem, rest. — Note the abounding legal and 
military phraseology in the play. How acquired by Shakespeare ? — 3. 
Sith. II. ii. 6; IV. iv. 45. — 4. which, used interchangeably with loho 
and that? Abbott, 265. A. S. hioylc, why-like, contracted from hioi, 



SCENE YTI.] HAMLET. 167 

Why you proceeded not against these feats, 
So crimeful and so capital in nature, 
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else. 
You mainly were stirr'd up. 

King. O, for two special reasons. 

Which may to 3"ou perhaps seem much unsinew'd, lO 

But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother 
Lives almost by his looks ; and for myself — 
My virtue or my plague, be it either which — 
She 's so conjunctive to my life and soul, 
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, 15 

I could not but by her. The other motive, 
Why to a public count I might not go. 
Is the great love the general gender bear him ; 
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection. 
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone, 20 

Convert his gyves to graces : so that my arrows. 



why, by what, and lie, like; akin to Lat. qua-Us, what-like,of what sort. 
Skeat, — 7. crimeful. Used by Shakespeare in Bape of Lucrece, 970. 
The quartos read criminall. The better? — 8. wisdom. The quartos 
insert greatness before wisdom. Objection to this ? Scan the next line. 
— 9. mainly = greatly, strongly [Hudson]? chiefly? — Main, strength, 
might, as in the phrase ''might and main," is A. S. maegen, strength. 
Main, chief, is Old Fr. magne, as in Charlemagne; Lat. magnns. Both, 
however, are from the same Aryan root? — 10. much vmsinewed = 
very weak, wanting nerve? ^SVnezc'ed^ strengthened in King John,Y, 
vii. 88. Rolfe. — A. S. simi, a tendon, that which joins the muscle to the 
bone. — 11. ' And. The quartos have but. Preference? — 13. be it 
either which = be it which of the two it may? Abbott, 273. To what 
does it, before either, refer ? — 14. conjunctive = conjoined, united, knit, 
as in Othello, I. iii. 362 ? — 15. sphere. One of the eight revolving crys- 
tal shells, in which the heavenly bodies were once supposed to be firmly 
fastened, that of the moon being nearest; then, in order, Mercury, Ve- 
nus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, fixed stars: the earth being the com- 
mon centre ? Their swift revolution through the ether of the planetary 
spaces " caused the music of the spheres." — 17. count = account, trial? 
Count is a doublet of compute; Lat. compntare, to sum up; Fr. compte, 
account, reckoning, compt. — 18. general gender = the common race 
of the people [Johnson] V — Lat. genus, genere, kind, sort, cognate with 
kin ; Fr. genre, kind. The d is excrescent, as in tender. /Skeat. — 20. 
spring, etc. The dropping-well at Knaresborough, Yorl^shire, incrusts 
things with a calcareous deposit. Beed. — " If the spring had changed 
base metals to gold, the thought had been more proper " [Johnson] ? — 
21. gyves, etc = his fetters would make him appear the lovelier [Hud- 
son] ? the bonds would give him more general favor [Moberh^] V make 
his gyves precious to the people as relics (as the cross is to us a precious 
and sacred ornament) ? Theobald suggested to read gibe.'^ or gubes; 
Tschischwitz adopts the suggestion; Elze suggests crimes ; Daniel, gyres, 
wild and whirling actions; Elze and Stratmann would change graces to 
graves, i.e., greaves, armor-boots ! — Welsh gefyn, a fetter, gyve {g as j). 



168 HAMLET, [act IV. 

Too slightly timber' d for so loud a wind, 
Would have reverted to my bow again, 
And not where I had aim'd them. 

Laertes. And so have I a noble father lost ; 25 

A sister driven into desperate terms. 
Whose worth, if praises may go back again. 
Stood challenoer on mount of all the ao-e 
For her perfections : but my revenge will come. 

King. Break not your sleeps for that ; you must not think 
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull 31 

That we can let our beard be shook with danger. 
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more : 
I lov'd your father, and we love ourself ; 
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine — 35 

Enter a Messenger. 

How now ! what news ? 

Messenger. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet : 

This to your majesty ; this to the queen. 

King. From Hamlet ! who brought them ? 

Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they say ; I saw them not : 
They were given to me by Claudio ; he received them 40 

Of him that brought them. 

King. Laertes, you shall hear them. — 

Leave us. [_Exit Messenger. 

— 22. loud a wind. " Weak bows and light shafts cannot stand in a 
rough wind." Ascham's Toxojjhilus (1589). Two quartos have loued 
arm'd ; two, loued armes. Jennens adopts the former {loved, arm^d), 
and interprets thus, " Too slightly timbered for one so loved and 
armed." Reasonable? — 24. not where = not gone where ? *' The Eliza- 
bethan authors objected to scarcely any ellipsis, provided the deficiency 
could be easily supplied from the context." Abbott, SS2. — 25. have = 
find [Abbott, see 425; Rolfe] ? possess as my lot or situation? have I = 
there is to me; Lat. est mihi? — 27. if, etc. ==if I may praise what once 
was, but now is no more ? — 28. of all the age, etc. = on the highest 
ground, in the fullest presence of the age, to give a general challenge 
[Caldecott] V challenged all the age to deny her perfection [Furness, 
Hudson, Rolfe, etc.] ? At the coronation of the Emperor of Austria as 
king of Hungar\% lie unsheathes the ancient sword of state on the 
Mount of Defiance at Presburg, and shaking it towards north, east, 
south, and west, challenges the world to dispute his rights. — 30. 
sleeps. See loves, I. i. 173; ivisdoms, I. ii. 15. — you must not, etc. Is 
here a threat to Laertes as well as Hamlet ? —32. shook. Shakespeare 
generally uses shook both for past tense and j^articiple; sometimes 
shaked; five times, shaken. Rolfe. Abbott, 343. — 34. I loved . . . we 
love. Why this change to the royal style? — 35. imagine what? — 3G. 
letters = a letter; like the Latin plural h^e?'CK, an epistle? — 41. of him 
that brought them. These words are not in the folios. Are they of 



SCENE Vn.] HAMLET, 169 

[Reads] ' High and mighty^ You shall know I am set naked 
on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your 
kingly eyes; ivhen I shall ^ first asking your pardon thereunto., 
recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return. 

Hamlet.' 
What should this mean ? Are all the rest come back ? 
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? 

Laertes. Know you the hand ? 

King. 'T is Hamlet's character. ' Naked ! ' 

And in a postscript here, he says 'alone.' 51 

Can you advise me? 

Laertes. I 'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come ; 
It warms the very sickness in my heart, 
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth, 55 

'This didestthou.' 

King. If it be so, Laertes — 

As how should it be so ? how otherwise ? — 
Will you be rul'd by me? 

Laertes. Ay, my lord ; 

So you will not o'errule me to a peace. 

King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd, 60 
As checking at his voyage, and that he means 
No more to undertake it, I will work him 
To an exploit now ripe in my device. 
Under the which he shall not choose but fall ; 
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe, 65 

any value? — 45. your kins^ly eyes. See in his eye, IV. iv. 6.-46. 
more strange [than sudden] ? So Abbott, 6. —48. should, etc. = was 
this (destined, likely) to mean [Abbott, 325] ? '' It seems to increase the 
emphasis of the interrogation, since a doubt about the past (time having 
been given for investigation) implies more perplexity than a doubt about 
the future." Abbott, 325. — 49. abuse = deception, cheat, delusion? 
See abuses, II. ii. 590. — 50. character = handwriting ? See character, 
I. iii. 59. — The verse seems to require that this word . . . should be 
pronounced character [Walker] ? — 56. didest. Diddest, didst, and diest, 
are in early editions. — 57. As how, etc. How should it be so, that 
Hamlet has returned ? How should it be otherwise, with this written 
evidence before us to prove it ? Hudson, substantially. — " Perhaps the 
first clause refers to Hamlet's return, the second to Laertes' failings" 
[Clark and Wright] ? — 58. ruled, etc. The folios omit Ay, my lord. 
Abbott makes Ay a dissyl., as in II. i. 36. —59. So is used with the 
future and subjunctive in the sense of ** provided that " ? Abbott, 133. — 
61. checking at = objecting to ? rebelling against ? starting away from? 
Metaphor from falconry, technically applied to a falcon that forsakes her 
proper game to fly after some other bird. Clark and Wric/ht, Dyce, etc. — 
The word check is from the game of chess, and meant kinfi ; " check ! " 
i.e., mind your king ! Fr. echec, a sudden stop, repulse, defeat ; echecSf 



170 BAM LET. [act IV. 

But even his mother shall uncharge the practice 
And call it accident. 

Laertes, My lord, I will be rul'd ; 

The rather, if you could devise it so 
That I might be the organ. 

King, It falls right. 

You have been talk'd of since your travel much, 70 

And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality 
Wherein, they say, you shine ; your sum of parts 
Did not together pluck such envy from him 
As did that one, and that, in my regard. 
Of the unworthiest siege. 75 

Laertes, AYhat part is that, my lord ? 

King, A very riband in the cap of youth, 
Yet needful too ; for youth no less becomes 
The light and careless livery that it wears 
Than settled age his sables and his weeds. 
Importing health and graveness. Two months since, 
Here was a gentleman of Normandy : — 
I 've seen myself, and serv'd against, the French, 
And they can well on horseback ; but this gallant 
Had witchcraft in 't : he grew into his seat, 

chess. — (SQ. uncharge = acquit of blame, not accuse [Schmidt]? make 
no accusation against [Clark and Wright] ? *' The word is probably 
coined by Shakespeare." — practice = artitice, plot, stratagem, treach- 
ery? — 67-80. Lines 67-80, my lord . . . graveness, are not in the 
folios. Can they be spared ? — 69. organ = instrument ? Gr. opyavov^ 
organon ; Lat. orgdnum, an implement: epyov, ergon, a work. — 72. 
parts = talents, qualities, gifts? Says Pope, ''If parts allure thee, 
think how Bacon shined." Parts in tide sense of talentswas in constant 
use in the old writers. — 75. siege = rank [Johnson, etc.] ? — Lat. sedere, 
to sit ; sedes, a seat; Fr. siege, a seat. "Seat, thence rank, because jieo- 
ple sat at talDle and elsewhere in the order of precedence." Clark and 
Wright. See Luke xiv. 8, 10. — 76. very = real? mere? Lat. veruSy 
true? — weed. A. S. ivmd, garment. — 79. sables. III. ii. 113. — 80. 
tvi^o months since. The folios read. Some two months hence. Equallj^ 
good? — health = prosperity [Schmidt, Rolfe, etc.]? care for health 
[Malone, Clark and Wright, etc.] ? I. iii. 21 ; V. ii. 21. Corson, and 
after him Furness, thinks that here is a distributive or " respective " 
construction; health referring to careless livery, and graveness to sables 
and weeds. For such construction, see III. i. 151 ; Macbeth, I. iii. 60, 61. 

— Shakespeare wrote wealth. Warbiirton. — A. S. Jmlan, to make 
whole ; health, wholeness, soundness. — Importing = implying ? denot- 
ing an attention to [Malone] ? producing [Johnson] ? — 83. can = (have 
knowledge, and consequently) have ability, are skilled? Abbott, 307. 

— In Par. Lost, viii. 630, Raphael says, "But I can now no more." — 
A. S. cunnan, to know, to be able. — The folios have ran, which pre- 
sents a queer image, but is adopted by Rowe, Caldecott, Knight, and 
others. — 84. into. Unto in the quartos, adopted by many. Wisely ? — 




SCENE VII.] HAMLET, 171 

And to such wondrous doing brought his horse, 85 

As he had been incorps'd and demi-natur'd 

With the brave beast. So far he topp'd my thought 

That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks, 

Come short of what he did. 

Laertes, A Norman was 't? 

King, A Norman. 90 

Laertes, Upon my life, Lamond. 

King, The very same. 

Laertes, I know liim well ; he is the brooch indeed 
And gem of ^1 the nation. 

King, He made confession of you, 95 

And gave you such a masterly report 
For art and exercise in your defence. 
And for your rapier most especially. 
That he cried out, 't would be a sight indeed, 
If one could match you ; the scrimers of their nation, 
He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye, lOo 

If you oppos'd them. Sir, this report of his 
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy 
That he could nothing do but wish and beg 
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him. 

86. As he had is as had he in the earliest quartos and all the folios. — As 
nearly or quite = as if? Ahhott^Kyi. — incorps'd = made one body, in- 
corporate ? Lat. coij>2(s was a body, living or lifeless. — demi-natur'd. 
Demi is from Lat. diniidivs, half ; di-, dis-, apart ; mediiis, middle ; Fr.' 
demiy half. Not akin to semi-, or hemi, which are doublets. — 87. brave. 
II. ii. 295. — topp'd = surpassed, exceeded. So top in Macbeth, IV. iii. 
57. Note with what facility Shakespeare turns any word into a verb. 
Vivid imagination ? — The folios have jxist, w^hich Rowe, Pope, and some 
otliers prefer. Your choice ? — 88. forgery = invention [Hudson, 
Schmidt] ? imagination [Clark and Wright] ? Ltat. fab rica, a workshop, 
a fabric ; wiience, by usual letter chsmges, fabr'ca, faurca, favrga, forga, 
and finally /o?'.(7e." Skeat, after Brachet. — 92. brooch = conspicuous 
ornament [Hudson] ? ornamental buckle (for the hat) [Rolfe, etc.] ? — So 
named from its being fastened with a pin. Lat. broccus, a sharp tooth, 
a point ; Fr. broche, a spit ; Gaelic broc/, a shoemaker's awl ; (l)a point; 
(2) a pin ; (3) an ornament fastened with a pin, tongue, or loop. Skeat, 
Webster. Pronounced with 6 long? — 94. confession = unwilling ac- 
knowledgment of the superiority' [Delius, etc.] ?— 95. masterly report 
report of mastership, account of consummate skill [Schmidt] ? report 
which describes jou. as a master of fence [Clark and Wright] ? — 96. 
defence = fencing, sword-practice [Hudson, etc.]? the science of de- 
fence [Johnson] ? — 99. scrimers = fencers? — Fr. escrimeiirs, fencers. — 
Not found elsewhere. Perhaps we should read with White, th'escri- 
incurs. —100. Coleridge calls attention to the skill of the king in awak- 
ening, gratifying, and pointing the vanity of Laertes. —101. report. 
Subject or object of envenom ? — 102. his. Hudson changes his to your. 



17^ Hamlet. [act iv. 

Now, out of this — 105 

Laertes, What out of this, my lord? 

King, Laertes, was your father dear to you? 
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, 
A face without a heart? 

Laertes. Why ask you this ? 

King. Not that I think you did not love your father ; 
But that T know love is begun by time, 110 

And that I see, in passages of proof, 
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. 
There lives within the very flame of love 
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it ; 
And nothing is at a like goodness still, 115 

For goodness, growing to a plurisy. 
Dies in his own too-much. That we would do. 
We should do when we would ; for this ' would ' changes 
And hath abatements and delays as many 
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents ; 120 

And then this ' should ' is like a spendthrift sigh. 
That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer : 
Hamlet comes back ; what would you undertake. 
To show yourself your father's son in deed 
More than in words ? 

Laertes. To cut his throat i' the church. 125 



Wisely ? — 105. Here the king pauses. Why ? — 110. by time = at some 
given point of time (in other words, love is not innate) [Moberly] ? by 
time, and has its gradual increase [Hudson] ? — 111. passages of 'proof 
= circumstances that prove (it) [Clark and Wright] ? instances of trial, 
or experience [Hudson] ? events which have come within my own expe- 
rience [Meiklejohn] ? In Jidins Ccesar, II. i. 21, proof == experience. — 
113-122. There lives . . . ulcer, omitted in the folios. Necessary ? 
— 115. like ^ uniform ? — stiU = always ? II. ii. 42. — 116. plurisy = 
plethora, excess? much the same as Burns's unco giiid [Hudson]? Lat. 
plus, more. Not to be confounded with pleurisy, inflammation of the 
pleura (from Gr. irXevpa, pleura, a rib, the side), the membrane that 
covers the lungs. — 118. too-much. Noun? Like ''a great amiss" 
[Moberly]? Like the vulgar too muchness [Meiklejohn]? — would = 
wish to, would like to ? and should = ought to ? Abbott, 323, 329. — 12L 
spendthrift sigh, etc. == w^asting sigh, etc.? "Alluding to the old no- 
tion that every sigh caused the loss of a drop of blood from the heart " 
[Rolfe] ? " The mere recognition of a duty without the will to perform 
it, w^hile it satisfies for a moment, enfeebles the moral nature " [Clark 
and Wright]? '' He who vainly acknowledges that he ' should ' have 
done a thing, is like a spendthrift sighing for his squandered estate " 
[Moberly] ? " As, according to the old saying, every sigh takes away a 
pound of flesh, any sigh hurts by easing, and so is spendthrift " [White]? 
^Mid. NiyhVs Dream, III. ii. 9*7 ; Mer. of Venice, I. i. 82. -—122. quick. 



SCENE VII.] HAMLET, 173 

King, No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize ; 
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, 
AVill you do this, keep close within your chamber. 
Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home : 
We '11 put on those shall praise your excellence 130 

And set a double varnish on the fame 
The Frenchman gave you ; bring you, in fine, together 
Aiid wager on your heads. He, being remiss. 
Most generous and free from all contriving, 135 

Will not peruse the foils ; so that, with ease 
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose 
A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice 
Requite him for j^our father. ^ 

Laertes. I will do 't ; 

And, for that purpose, I '11 anoint my sword. 
I bought an unction of a mountebank, 140 

So mortal that, but dip a knife in it, 
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, ^ 

Collected from all simples that have virtue 

II. ii. 584. —126. murder sanctuarize = protect murder from punish- 
ment, be a sanctuary to a murderer ? So temples and " cities of refuge " 
once formed an asylum to homicides. See Joshua xx. ; Comedy of Er- 
rors, V. i. 94, 95. — Word coined hy Shakespeare. — 177. Revenge, etc. 
This devjlish doctrine was religiously believed, and should continually 
be borne in mind. — 130. put on = instigate, stir up, incite, set on ? V. 
ii. 371. — shall. I. ii. 17 ; IV. vi. 22. — 133. remiss = careless, indiffer- 
ent ? This word now always refers to some particular act ? — 134. con- 
triving = plotting? planning? Lat. con^ with ; turhdre, move, disturb ; 
Fr. trouver, to find. — 135. peruse = scrutinize, closely examine ? — 136. 
shuffling (shuffle is a doublet of scuffle, and the frequentative of shove^ 
to push, thrust) = pushing about, practising shifts, fighting confusedly. 
137. unbated = not blunted, having no cap or button on the point? 
w^ith sharpness undiminished .^ Bate is a contraction of abate, to dimin- 
ish ; Old Fr. abatre ; Low Lat. abbatere, to beat down. — Bate, abate, and 
?'e6a^e = blunt in Shakespeare. — pass of practice = treacherous thrust 
[Rolfe, Clark and Wright, etc.] ? pass that Laertes was well practised in 
[M. Mason] ? thrust for exercise [Johnson] ? thrust made as in exercise 
of skill, and without any purpose of harm [Hudson] ? See line 66. — 
139. anoint, etc. "Laertes shows . . . how little need there was for 
the king to prepare the temptation so carefully [Moberly] ? — 140. 
unction. Abstract for concrete? So contac/ion, 146? — mountebank 
= quack [Schmidt]? druggist, apothecary [Hudson]? Ital. montam- 
banco, a mountebank ; montare, to mount ; in, on ; banco, a bench; Lat. 
mons, nioniem, a mountain. Bank is a doublet of bench, and the oldest 
sense seems to have been ridge . The charlatan mounts a bench to pro- 
claim his nostrums? — 142. cataplasm = soft plaster, jioultice ? Gr. 
AcaTaTrAacr/xa, kataplasma, a i)laster; AcaTaTrAao-o-eti/, kataplassciu, to spread 
down, spread ox ex -, plaster ^n^ plastic are from the verb. — 143. sim- 
ples = herbs, so called as being the simple ingredients of compound 
mixture [Clark and Wright,] ? or as having a single specific medicinal 



174 HAMLET. [act IV. 

Under the moon, can save the thing from death 

That is but scratch'd withal ; I '11 touch my point 145 

AYith this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly, 

It may be death. 

King. Let 's further think of this ; 

Weigh what convenience both of time and means 
May fit us to our shape. If this should fail, 
And that our drift look through our bad performance, 150 
'T were better not assay'd ; therefore this project 
Should have a back or second, that might hold 
If this should blast in proof. Soft ! — let me see : — 
We '11 make a solemn wg-ger on your cunnings, — 
I ha 't : 155 

When in your motion you are hot and dry — 
As make your bouts more violent to that end — 
And that he calls for drink, I '11 have prepar'd him 
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping. 
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck, 160 

Our purpose may hold there. — 

Enter Queen. , 

J How now, sweet queen ! 

Queen( One woe doth tread upon another's heel. 
So fast they follow. — Your sister 's drown'd, Laertes. 

virtue ? Lat. simplex^ literally one-fold, as duplex is two-fold ; Lat. sim, 
from base sama, base ot sem-el, once, sim-ul, at one time, together; plic-j 
iiom. plicdre, to fold. — 144. under the moon = on the earth [Rolfe] ? 
gathered by moonlight [Furness] ? — 145. withal == with this, or with 
it? ^660^^, 196. —146. contagion = poison? See 140 —that. IV. v. 
197. — 149. may fit us, etc. = may enable ns to act our part [Johnson] ? 
— 150. that = if? Abbott, 285. —drift = that which one ''drives at"? 
A. S. drtfan, to drive; meaning? puri-)Ose? end in view? — look = 
show, appear. — 152. back = support in reserve [Schmidt] ? some reserve 
to fall back on ? — 153. blast, etc. =^ break down in the trial. The image 
is of proving guns, which sometimes burst in the testing [Hudson] ? 
Note the military allusions. —154. cunnings. II. ii. 427, 577; I. i. 173; 
I. ii. 15. — The folios have comings, which some adopt, meaning bouts, 
meetings (in assault), passes. Your preference? — 157. As = for so? and 
so? IV. iii. 58 ; Me7\ of Venice, I. iii. 67. — 157. bouts = conflicts, *' set- 
tos.*' Bout is properly a turn, a bend, from Danish bugne, to bend ; 
biigt, a turn; bight, a" bay; related to boio. — loS, prepar'd.^ Some 
editions, following the quartos, hsiYe prefer' cl. Better reading? — 159. 
the nonce = the special occasion? The sense is for the once; the older 
spelling is for then ones. The n really belongs to the dative case of the 
article ! — 160. stuck = thrust ? — ItaL and Span, stoccaia and staccado. 
White, Clark and Wright, and some others adopt from the quarto of 
1676 the word tuck, which means rapier. Tv^elfth Night, III. iv. 262. — 
161. How novi^, sweet queen! Omitted in the quartos. Words 
needed? — 162. One woe, etc. The same idea as in IV. v. 61, 62? 



^ SCENE Til.] HAMLET. 175 

Laertes, Drown ' d ! O, where? 

Queen. There is a willow grows aslant a brook, 165 

That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ; 
There with fantastic garlands did she come 
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, 
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, 
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them : 170 

There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds 
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke, 
When down her weedy trophies and herself 
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, 
And, mermaid-like, a while they bore her up ; 175 

Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes. 
As one incapable of her own distress. 
Or like a creature native and indued 
Unto that element : but long it could not be 
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, 180 

Could the two expressions properly change places, the queen's words 
befitting the king's lips, and vice versa P — 165, 166. Note the picturesque- 
ness of the word aslant. Lowell says of these two lines, " Shakespeare 
understood perfectly the art of indirectness, of making his readers seem 
to discover for themselves what he means to show them. If he wishes 
to tell that the leaves of the willow are gray on the under side, he does 
not make it a mere fact of observation by bluntly saying so, but makes 
it picturesquely reveal itself to us as it might in nature." Among My 
Books, I. p. 185. — willow. See Me7\ of Venice^ V. i. 10. The earliest 
reference to the willow, as a symbol of forsaken love, is found in a MS. 
collection of poems by John Heywood, about 1530." Rolfe. — 167. 
come. The 2d and 3d quartos read, " Therewith fantastic garlands did 
she make." Better? — 168. crow-flowers, etc. Says Farren, ''This 
line is an exquisite specimen of emblematic or picture writing," and he 
interprets thus : crow-flowers = a fair maid ; nettles = stung to the 
quick; daisies — her virgin bloom ; long purples = 'under the cold hand of 
death ! But — V — crow^-flowers == crow-foot [Beisley] ? — long pur- 
ples == the early purple orchis [Beisle\']? One of the grosser names 
Gertrude had particular reason to avoid was " the rampant widow " 
Malone. — 169. liberal = loose-tongued V licentious? — In Richard 11. 
II. i. 229, we have " a liberal tongue." — 170. cold = chaste? Tempest 
IV. i. (oQt. — In opposition to ''liberal." Delius. — 172. sliver. A. S 
slifan, to cleave. " When Romeo must leave Juliet, the private pang of 
the lovers becomes a property of Nature herself, and ' envious streaks 
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east.' " Loicell. ~ 175. mermaid. 
A. S. mere, lake, mere ; mcegd, maid. The kindred Fr. mer, sea, caused 
the change of meaning. Skeat. — 176. w^hicli time. All constantly 
repeated adverbial expressions have a tendency to abbreviate or lose 
their prepositions. Abbott, 202. Here the preposition is omitted for 
brevity's sake? — tunes. The quartos have laudes or lauds, psalms. 
Which should be adopted? — 177. incapable = having no understand- 
ing ov 'knowledge [^laloue]? unconscious [Hudson]? — 178. native. I. 
ii. 47.— indued = fitted, suited [Rolfe]? clothed, endowed, or furnished 



176 HAMLET, [act IV. 

Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay 
To muddy death. 

Laertes, Alas, then, is she drowu'd? 

Queen, Drown'd, drown'd. 

Laertes, Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, 
And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet 185 

It is our trick ; nature her custom holds. 
Let shame say what it will : when these are gone, 
The woman will be out. — Adieu, my lord ; 
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze. 
But that this folly douts it. - [Exit, 

King. Let 's follow, Gertrude ; 190 

How much I had to do to calm his rage ! 
Now fear I this will give it start again ; 
Therefore let 's follow. [Exeunt, 

with properties suited [Mai one] ?— 181. poor wretch. II. ii. 168. 
Note tlie vivid peisonification in the sentence. — 182. death. Was it 
suicide? V. i. 210, 216. — "This speech of the queen is certainly un- 
worthy of its author and of the occasion. The enumeration of plants is 
quite as unsuitable to so tragical a scene as the description of the Dover 
cliff in King Lear. Besides, there was no one by to witness the death 
of Ophelia, else she would have been rescued." Clark and Wright, 
*' This passage is deservedly celebrated, and aptly illustrates the poet's 
power of making the description of a thing better than the thing itself, 
by giving us his eyes to see it with." Hudson. " Perhaps this descrip- 
tion by the queen is poetical rather than dramatic; but its exquisite 
beauty prevails, and Ophelia, dying and dead, is still the same Ophelia 
that lirst won our love." Thotnas Campbell[?] — Choose. — 184. Too 
much of water, etc. Is this good?— 186. trick = peculiar habit? — 
Teutonic base strik, to stroke; Ger. stretch, a stroke, a trick; Dutch 
s^reeA:, a trick, a prank. — 188. The woman, etc. This recalls the ex- 
quisite lines in Henry F., IV. vi. 30-32, — 

** But I had not so much of man in me, 
And all the mother came into mine eyes, 
And gave me up to tears." 

See Mer. of Venice, II. iii. 10, 11; Macbeth, IV. iii. 230; Tioelfth Night, 
II. i. 34-36. —190. douts = c?oes oiit, extinguishes? So don is do on; 
doff, do off; and obsolete dup, do vp. — *'That Laertes might be excused 
in some degree for not cooling, the act concludes with the affecting death 
of Ophelia." Coleridge, 



SCENE I.J HAMLET. Ill 



ACT V. 

Scene I. A Churchyard, 
Enter two Clowns, loith spades^ etc, 

1 Cloivn. Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wil- 
fully seeks her own salvation ? 

2 Clown, I tell thee she is ; and therefore make her grave 
straight : the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian 
burial. 5 

1 Cloivn. How can that be, unless she drowned herself in 
her own defence ? 

2 Cloivn. Why, 't is found so. 

1 Clown, It must he se offendendo; it cannot be else. For 
here lies the point : if I drown m^^self wittingly, it argues an 
act, and an act hath three branches ; it is, to act, to do, and 
to perform : argal, she drowned herself wittingly. 12 

2 Clown, Nay, but hear you, goodman delver, — 

1 Clown, Give me leave. Here lies the water ; good : 
here stands the man ; good : if the man go to this water, 
and drown himself, it is, will he nill he, he goes, — mark you 
that ; but if the water come to him and drown him, he 
drowns not himself : argal, he that is not guilt}^ of his own 
death shortens not his own life. 

How long a time between the fourth and fifth Acts ? — 2. salva- 
tion. The blunders of the Gobbos in Merchant of Venice, and of Dog- 
berry in Much Ado cihout Nothing, are equalled by these clowns? — 4. 
straight = east to west in a direct line, parallel with the church [John- 
son]? " not the mere hole " in which a suicide should be buried [Mo- 
berly]? straightway, immediately [Hudson, White, etc.]? II. ii. 418. — 
croAvner. Generally supposed to be a corruption of the clown's, but it 
is merely the English of the Low Latin corondtor, from coron.a, crown 
[Rushton] ? — sat = held a session?— 9. se ofFendendo = by offending 
herself, in self-offence; the clown's blunder for se defendeiido, in self- 
defence? " J. H." thinks here is no blunder. Which interpretation is 
the more reasonable? — argal, clown Latin = ergo, therefore? — 13. 
delver. " Hence it would appear that the second clown is not a grave- 
digger " [Walker] ? A. S. del/an, to dig; literally, to make a dale; A. S. 
dcel, orig. a "cleft," "separation." Eelated to deal and dell, — 16. nill 
= will not? A. S. ne, not, ivillan, to will. Like kindred Lat. nolle, to be 



178 HAMLET. [act V. 

2 Clown, But is this law ? 20 

1 Clown, Ay, marry, is 't ; crowner's quest law. 

2 Clown, Will you ha' the truth on 't? If this had not 
been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' 
Christian burial. 

1 Clown, Why, there thou say'st ; and the more pity that 
great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or 
hang themselves, more than their even-Christian. — Come, 
my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, 
ditchers, and grave-makers ; they hold up Adam's profes- 
sion. 30 

2 Cloivn, Was he a gentleman ? 

1 Clown, He was the first that ever bore arms. 

2 Cloimi, Why, he had none. 

1 Clown, What, art a heathen? How dost thou under- 
stand the Scripture? The Scripture says 'Adam digged;' 

unwilling; from ne and velle, — 21. marry. I. iii. 90. — quest = pertain- 
ing to inquest; inquiry by a coroner's jury? — A noun in Richard III.^ 
I. iv. 178. — Lat. qiiceslta (res) a thing sought ; qiicerere, to seek; Old Fr. 
queste, search, inquiry. — law. Sir John Hawkins says: ''I strongly 
suspect that this is in ridicule of a case of forfeiture to the Crown re- 
ported by Plowden [died 1584]. It seems that Sir James Hales drowned 
himself in a river, in a fit of insanity, produced, it is supposed, by his 
having been one of the judges who condemned Lady Jane Grey. The 
coroner sat on him, and a verdict of felo de se (suicide) was rendered. 
. . . Sergeant Walsh said that the act consists of three parts. The 
first is the imagination, which is a reflection or meditation . . . whether 
or no it is convenient for him to destroy himself, and what way it can 
be done. The second is the resolution, which is a determination to de- 
stroy himself and in this or that particular way. The third is the . . . 
execution of what the mind has resolved to do. And this [execution] 
consists of two parts, viz., the beginning and the end. The beginning is 
the doing of the act that causes death, and the end is tlie death, which 
is only a sequel to the act. . . . Sir James was dead, and how came he 
to his death? . . . By drowning. And who drowned him V Sir James. 
When did he drown himV In his lifetime. So that Sir James being 
alive caused Sir James to die, and the act of the living man was the 
death of the dead man. And then for this olfence it is reasonable to 
punish the living man who committed the offence, and not the dead 
man. But how can he be said to be punished alive when the punish- 
ment comes after death?" Plowden's Commentaries were not trans- 
lated from French into English till, long after Shakespeare's death? 
Could Shakespeare read French? — 25. thou say'st = thou say'st it (it 
being absorbed by the t of say'st) [Furness] ? thou say'st well, or to the 
purpose [Schmidt]? thou say'st true [Walker]? Luke xxiii. 3.-27. 
even = fellow? Chaucer has " even cristen," fellow Christian. A. S. 
eff'Ti, equal, level. — 29. hold up = follow up, continue, maintain? — 
** Concealed wit in the clown's allusion to the spade. Adam's spade is 
set down in some of tlie books of heraldry as the most ancient form of 
escutcheons; nor is it improbable that the lower part of the utensil sug- 
gested the well-known form of the old triangular shields." Furness. — 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 179 

could he dig without arms? I '11 put another question to 
thee ; if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thy- 
self— 

2 Cloivn. Go to. 

1 Cloicn, What is he that builds stronger than either the 
mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter? 41 

2 Cloivn, The gallows-maker ; for that frame outlives a 
thousand tenants. 

1 Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith : the gallows 
does well; but how does it well? it does well to those that 
do ill ; now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger 
than the church : argal, the gallows may do well to thee. 
To 't again, come. 

2 Cloimi. Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, 
or a carpenter? 50 

1 Cloivn. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke. 

2 Cloivn. Marry, now I can tell. 

1 Cl0lV7l. To 't. 

2 Clown. Mass, I cannot tell. 

Enter Hamlet and Horatio, at a distance. 

1 Clown. Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your 
dull ass will not mend his pace with beating ; and when 3'ou 
are asked this question next, say ' a grave-maker : ' the houses 
that he makes last till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan ; 
fetch me a stoup of liquor. \_Exit 2 Clown. 

\_He digs., and sings. 

See Tennyson's Clara Vere de Vere about tbe gardener Adam. — 39. Go 
to = come ! A phrase of varying import [Hudson] ? — A phrase of ex- 
hortation, or encouragement, sometimes used scornfully. Rolfe. Mer. 
of Venice, I. iii. 105. Genesis xi. 4. — 40. What. IV. vi. 1. — 49. Who 
builds, etc. = Do you ask who builds, etc.? — 51. unyoke. Metaphor 
from what? — 54. Mass. II. i. 50; III. ii. 353. — 58. Yaughan. Possi- 
bly a stage direction to the plaj'er to yaicn at this point [Collier] ? I sus- 
pect that it is a misprint for tavern [White] ? Shakespeare's English 
way of representing the Danish Johan, John [J. San]? Most probably 
the well-known keeper of a tavern near the theatre [Nicholson] ? Im- 
possible to detect the meaning which lies under this corruption [Clark 
and Wright] ? Common Welsh name . . . borne by some Welsh tavern- 
keeper near the theatre [C. E. Browne] ? The Hebrew name Jolui is 
written in Hebrew Yohannan ; Syriac, Yiihannon ; Kestorian Syriac, 
Yohanna; Armenian, Hohannes ; Gv. loannes ; l^at. Johannes ; Ital. Gio- 
vanni; Spanish, J//a» ; Ft. Jean; Ger. Johann ; Russian, /iy?;i ; Welsh, 
JSvan or Oicen. From it come Jenks, Jack, Jones, Hanson, etc.? — 59. 
stoup = a drinking-cup, still used in college halls. A. S. stedp ; Dutch, 
stoop, a gallon; Icel. stau}), a knobby lumi^; a beaker, cuj^. — The origi- 



180 HAMLET. [act V. 

In youths when 1 did love^ did love, 60 

Metliouglit it was very sweet. 
To contract — O ! — the tirae^ for — ah ! — my behove, 
0, methought, there was nothing meet, 
Hamlet, Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that 
he sings at grave-making? 65 

Horatio, Custom hath made it in him a property of easi- 
ness. 

Hamlet. 'T is e'en so ; the hand of little employment hath 
the daintier sense. 
1 Clown. [Sings] 

But age, with his stealing steps, 70 

Hath claiv'd me in his clutch, 
And hath shipped me intil the land. 
As if I had never been such. 

[ Throws up a skull, 

Hamlet. That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing 

once ; how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were 

Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder ! It might be the 



nal sense a mass of molten metal. Skeat. — 60-63, 70-73, 90-93. In 
youth, etc. Disjointed lines of a song written by Lord Vaux, and 
found in a collection of " Songs and Sonnets " by Henry Howard, Earl 
of Surrey, published in 1557. It may be found in full in Percy's Reliques. 

— 62. The and ah form no part of the song, but are the clown's grunt- 
ing as he digs [Hudson, Jennens, etc.] ? Clark and Wright adopt the 
reading for-a my behove, and in the next line there-a was nothing-a 
meet, and they say that '' doubtless Shakespeare made it unintelligible 
to suit the character of the singer, and that for-a, there-a^ and nothing-a 
represent the drawling notes." — behove. A. S. hehdf\ advantage. — ' 
66. property of easiness = easy individual peculiarity [Clark and 
Wright]? easy property, easy thing for him [Rolfe]? Easiness is free- 
dom from emotion, unconcernedness. Schmidt. — See thieves of mercy , ' 
IV. vi. 19 ; substance of a doubt, 1. iv. 37. — 69. daintier = more deli- 
cate? Cotgrave gives us dain, dainty, fine, quaint, curious, the popular 
French form of Lat. digniis, worthy; the more learned form being digne. 

— Is Hamlet's statement true? True of coarse work, but not of nice ? — 
72. intil = into ? — Clark and Wright quote Chaucer's Knight's Tale, 
1. 2064, Tyrwhitt's ed., " Ther saugh I Dyan turned intil a tree," but in 
Gilman's edition the line (2062) reads " Ther sawgh I Dane [i.e., Daphne] 
yturned til a tree." So in Morris's, line 1204. In A. S. in to', in is ad- 
verb (inwards), and to' is preposition. — 75. jowls = knocks? dashes? 

— From A. S. ceaji, jaw (or littie jaw, the -I being a diminutive sufifix), 
whence successively chafle, chavel, chaiol, chaid, chdl,jdl,jole,jovjl I Allied 
to chaps. Skeat. — Clarke remarks on the propriety and force with 
which Shakespeare uses even homely words like jowls. * ' What strength 
it gives to the impression of the head and cheek-bone smiting against 
the earth ! " The sound of J is naturally adapted to express energy? 
See Sprague's Masterpieces in English Literature, pp. 58, 60. — pate = 
head? — Pa^e stands for plate^ crown of the head. Ger. platte, plate, 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 181 

pate of a politician, which this ass now overreaches ; one 
that would circumvent God, might it not? 

Horatio, It might, my lord. 79 

Hamlet, Or of a courtier, which could say ' Good morrow, 

sweet lord ! How dost thou, good lord? ' This might be my 

lord such-a-one, that praised my lord such-a-one's horse when 

he meant to beg it, might it not ? 

Horatio. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. Why, e'en so ; and now my Lady Worm's, chap- 
less, and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's spade : 
here 's fine revolution, an we had the trick to see 't. Did 
these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggats 
with 'em? mine ache to think on 't. 
1 Clown, [Sings] 

A pick-axe^ and a spade, a spjade, 90 

For and a shroitding sheet; 
0, a pit of day for to he made 
For such a guest is meet. 

[ Throws up another skull. 

Hamlet. There 's another ; why may not that be the skull 

of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his 

cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this 

bald pate, in vulgar lang. the head; Gr. irXarvq, broad. — 77. politician 
= conspirator, schemer, wire-puller ? " Alwaj'S used in a bad sense by 
Shakespeare." Clark and Wrifjht. — o'er-reaclies — gets the better of? 
reaches over [Moberly] ? Hudson sees an equivoque in the \Yord. The 
folios yield us o^er-offices (is superior to in office), which Corson thinks 
more expressive. Your opinion? Does circumvent help us to decide? 
— 82. praised, etc. For a happy illustration see Timon of Athens ^ I. ii. 
194-197. — 85. and now (is my Lady, etc.) ? — 86. mazzard = the head, 
skull (jocular or contemptuous)? '^ Many derive it from Fr. machoirey 
jaw ; macher, Lat. masticare, to chew ; but it is probably from mazer, a 
bowl or large goblet (often of maple wood), the head being likened to 
that ! Because of the shape ? wooden material ? contents ? — sexton's. 
= Lat. sacra, sacred things ; Gr. suffix -to-rr)?, -istes; sacristan, one who 
takes care of sacred vessels, vestments, etc. Grave-digging has been 
added. — 87. revolution. Lat. re, back ; volvere, to roll ; revolution, a 
rolling round, complete change? — trick = knack, faculty [Caldecott]? 
acquired habit, skill, or art [Clark and Wright]? IV. vii. 186. — 88. 
loggats = a species of Aunt Sally [Moberly] ? A once popular game 
now played nowhere in England but at Norwich. Small conical logs of 
apple-wood are tossed at a mark. Icel. lag ; Swedish, idga, a felled 
tree ; Gr. base, Aex-, lech-, to lie ; at for et, diminutive, as in lancet, 
trumpet, pocket (small pouch). —92. For and. The accent onand? In 
the original soug, the line begins, And eke. — 92. for to. III. i 167. — 
95. quiddits = cavillings ; captious arguments?— Low Lat. quidditas, 
the " whatness; " quid, what. — quillets = sly tricks in argument ? quib- 
bles ? Lat. qiddlihet, which you please, which pleases you. — 96. ten- 
ures = titles by which landed pro^^erty is held. Lat. tenere, to hold ; 



182 HAMLET, [act V. 

rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty 
shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery ? Hum ! 
This fellow might be in 's time a great bu3^er of land, with 
his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, 
his recoveries ; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery 
of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? will 
his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double 
ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indent- 
ures ? The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in 
this box ; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha? 

Horatio. Not a jot more, my lord. 

Hamlet. Is not parchment made of sheep-skins? 

Horatio. Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too. 109 

Hamlet. They are sheep and calves which seek out assur- 
ance in that. I will speak to this fellow. — AYhose grave 's 
this, sirrah? 

1 Clown. Mine, sir. — 

[Sings] 0, a pit of clay for to be made 
For such a guest is meet. 

Fr. tenure. — 97. sconce = head (coUoquial and jocose) ? — Old Fr. 
esconser,. to bide, cover ; Lat. abscondere, to hide, conceal. Hence sconce, 
a small fort; a helmet; the head itself! — 98. battery = assault and 
battery? Fr. hattve ; Lat. hatuere, to beat.— 100. statutes. Not acts of 
parliament here, but modes of recognizance or acknowledgment for se- 
curing debts: "a process by which lands of a debtor were placed in 
possession of a creditor until the claim was satisfied out of the rents 
and profits." White. — Statutes and recognizances are continually coupled 
in the old law-books. — fines and recoveries are processes for convert- 
ing an " estate tail" [limited estate] into a " fee simple" [absolute es- 
tate]. — double vouchers. So called because two persons were succes- 
sively called upon (vouched) to warrant the tenant's title. — 101. fine = 
end [Rolfe]? last [Rushton]. J^at. finis, end. *' His fine pate is filled, 
not with fine dirt, but with the last dirt which will ever occupy it," im- 
plying that even in his lifetime his head was filled with dirt [Rushton]? 
— "Hudson says there are here four meanings of fine; 1. end ; 2. law pro- 
cesses ; 3. i^roud, elegant ; 4. small. — Choose. — 104. indentures == 
deeds with edges cut to tally ? Agreements made in duplicate ? — Each 
party kept one. Both were*^ written on the same sheet, which was then 
cut in two in a crooked or indented line. If a dispute arose, the fitting 
or tallying of the two parts would prove the genuineness V Lat. inden- 
tdre, to notch, or cut into teeth ; dens, dentis, a tooth. — 106. box. Al- 
luding to box in which attorneys keep deeds [Rushton] ? — inheritor = 
owner, possessor [Schmidt] ? Lat. hereditdre, to inherit ; heres, an heir; 
allied to Lat. herns, master; Gr. xt^p, cheir, the hand (the idea being of 
seizing). Shakespeare often uses inherit in the sense of possess. — 108. 
parchment was invented by Eumenes, founder of the celebrated 
library at Pergamos in Mysia, Asia Minor, about 190 B.C.? From Per- 
f/amos comes per f/ainena, parchment; as muslin from Mosul, calico from 
Calicut, arras from Arras. — 110. assurance = safety, security ? Play 
on the legal sense, legal evidence of the conveyance of real estate ? — 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 183 

Hamlet. I think it be thine, indeed, for thou liest in 't. 

1 Clown. You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore it is not 
yours ; for my part, I do not lie in 't, and yet it is mine. 

Hamlet. Thou dost lie in 't, to be in 't and say it is thine ; 
't is for the dead, not for the quick : therefore thou liest. 

1 Clown. 'T is a quick lie, sir ; 't will away again, from 
me to you. 122 

Hamlet. What man dost thou dig it for ? 

1 Cloimi. For no man, sir. 

Hamlet. What woman, then? 

1 Clown. For none, neither. 

Hamlet. Who is to be buried in 't? 

1 Clotvn. One that was a woman, sir ; but, rest her soul, 
she 's dead. 129 

Hamlet. How absolute the knave is ! we must speak by 
the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Hora- 
tio, these three years I have taken a note of it ; the age is 
grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near 
the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe. — How long hast 
thou been a grave-maker ? 

1 Clown. Of all the days i' the year, I came to 't that day 
that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras. 

Hamlet. How long is that since ? 

1 Cloivn. Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: 



116. thine. Hamlet uses the second person singular to the clown, and 
the latter uses the second plural to Hamlet in this dialogue ? Which is 
the more colloquial and familiar ? Inference ? III. iv. 154. — 120. quick 
= living ? II. ii. 584 ; IV. vii. 122 ; see 2 Tim. iv. 1. — 130. absolute = 
positive? certain? exact? Lat. absohitiis, freed (from any limitation 
or condition); ab, from ; solvere, to free, to loose. — Macbeth, III. vi. 40. 
— by the card = with the utmost precision ? according to a prescribed 
course [Hudson] ? — card = seaman's card containing the points of the 
compass [Johnson]? navigator's chart [Rolfe, etc.] ? card and calendar 
of etiquette, or book of manners [Staunton] ? V. ii. 109 ; As You Like It, 
V. iv. 87; Macbeth,!, iii. 17. — Gr. x^P'^j charte; Lat. charta, a piece of 
paper. In the Elizabethan age a map was often called a card. — 133. 
picked = refined [Schmidt] ? curious, over-nice [Hudson] ? smart, sharp 
[Haumer] ? spruce, quaint, affected [Malone] ? precise, smart [Clark 
and Wright] ? Allusion seems to be made to a picked shoe, that is, a 
shoe with a long pointed toe [Johnson] ? No allusion to picked shoes, 
because this fashion had expired long before Shakespeare's time [Douce]? 
Are the events in Hamlet supposed to have taken place five hundred 
years or more before Shakespeare's time? — All the senses [of pick] ulti- 
mately go back to the idea of using a sharply-pointed instrument. iSkeat. 
— 134.*^ kibe = chilblain ? — Probably the same word with ctip. Welsh, 
cib, a cup ; Gaelic, copan, a cup ; A. S. cuppe, cup ; Lat. cupa, a vat, a 
drinking vessel ; Gr. KvneWov, kupellon, cup. " The sense would appear 



184 HAMLET. [act V. 

it was the very day that young Hamlet was born ; he that is 
mad, and sent into England. 141 

Hamlet. Ay, marry, why was he sent into England? 

1 Clown. Why, because he was mad : he shall recover his 
wits there ; or, if he do not, it 's no great matter there. 

Hamlet. Why? 

1 Cloivn. 'T will not be seen in him there ; there the men 
are as mad as he. 

Hamlet. How came he mad? 

1 Cloivn. Very strangely, they say. 

Hamlet. How strangely? 150 

1 Cloivn. Faith, e'en with losing his wits. 

Hamlet. Upon what ground ? 

1 Clown. Why, here in Denmark ; I have been sexton 
here J man and boy, thirty years. 

Hamlet. How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot ? 

1 Clown. V faith, if he be not rotten before he die — as we 
have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce hold the 
•laying in — he will last you some eight year or nine year ; a 
tanner will last you nine year. 

Hamlet. Why he more than another? 160 

1 Clown. Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, 
that he will keep out water a great while ; and your water is 
a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body. Here 's a skull 
now ; this skull has lain in the earth three and twenty years. 

Hamlet. Whose was it? 165 

1 Clown. A whoreson mad fellow's it was ; whose do j^ou 
think it was ? 

Hamlet. Nay, I know not. 

1 Clown. A pestilence on him for a mad rogue ! a' poured 

to be * a malady in the shape of a cuj),' from the sweUing or rounded 
form." Skeat. Tempest, II. i. 276. — 140. Hamlet T^^as born. How 
long before? — Investigate. — Most critics think that Shakespeare is in- 
consistent as to Hamlet's age ; that at the opening of the play he is 
about eighteen or twenty, and at the close about thirty. But — ? — See 
Fvrness. — ''If any critic will efficiently knock upon the mazzard that 
'absolute' knave, the clown, I accept as satisfactory the age assigned 
by Marshall, — twenty-five." Doicden. — Hamlet shows him to be a 
liar ; and, if so, may he not, in his conceit and bragging, exaggerate his 
experience as grave-digger, and say thirty for twenty? — 146. there 
the men, etc. Shakespeare enjovs a good hit at the English ? Mer. of 
Venice, I. ii. 59-66; Tempest, 11." ii. 26-31; Othello, II. iii. 65-68. — 158. 
you. The "ethical dative" again? See II. i. 7; II. ii. 560 ; Abbott, 
220. — year. In the A. S. we read eighteen year. See III. ii. 266. — 170. 
This same, etc. It has been suggested that this is not the skull men- 



SCENE I.] HAMLET, 185 

a flagon of Ehenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, 
was Yorick's skull, the king's jester. ni 

Hamlet. This ? 

1 Clown, E'en that. 

Hamlet, Let me see — [^Takes the skull,'] Alas, poor Yor- 
ick ! — I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of 
most excellent fancy : he hath borne me on his back a thou- 
sand times ; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is ! 
my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed 
I know not how oft. — Where be your gibes now ? your gam- 
bols ? your songs ? your flashes of merriment, that were wont 
to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own 
grinning? quite chop-fallen? Now get you to my lady's 
chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this 
favor she must come; make her laugh at that. — Prithee, 
Horatio, tell me one thing. 185 

Horatio, What 's that, my lord? 

Hamlet, Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion 
i' the earth? 

Horatio, E'en so. 

Hamlet, And smelt so ? pah ! \_Puts doimi the skull. 

Horatio, E'en so, my lord. I9l 

Hamlet, To what base uses we may return, Horatio ! Why 
may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till 
he find it stopping a bung-hole ? 

Horatio. 'T were to consider too curiously, to consider so. 

tioned in line 163. Is it ? — 171. Yorick. Corruption of Borick (Rori- 
cus), name of Hamlet's maternal grandfather ? Danish, Jorg (George), y 
representing./.? Latham (quoted by Furness) suggests that out of Gesta 
Erici Regis (achievements of King Eric) may have come Yorick the 
king's jester ! — 178. it = the skull [Rolfe]? the idea, imagination 
[Clark and Wright]? — gorge = throat? stomach? Lat. gurges, and 
Sanscrit gargara, a whirlpool; Fr. gorge, throat-, also Lat. girrges, gullet. 
Is the root gar onomatopoetic ? — 180. on a roar. " We say still ' to set 
on fire,' and in Exodus xix. 18, we iind ' on a smoke ' = smoking." Clark 
and Wright. Abbott, 180. — Note the vividness of the language, /«s/ies, 
etc; —181. chop-fallen. Play on the word? Dejected? with lower 
jaw depressed? mouth corners drawn down V colloquially, ''down in 
the mouth" ? — Chaps (or chops) is jaws. See joicls, V. i. 75. — 184. 
favor = look, appearance [Rolfe]? applied to features of the face [Clark 
and Wright] ? — See Julius Coisar, I. ii. 87, ''As well as I do know your 
outward favor." — 187. Alexander. B.C. 356-323. —pah. Imitative 
word, from the act of blowing away, like pooh, '^piigh,'' pvff, etc. The 
folios have pi(h. Whitney (Language and the Study of Language, p. 429) 
declares that " the imitative principle " was " more activeh^ productive 
than any oCher in the earliest processes of language-making." — See II. 
ii, 382. — 192. Proverbial ? — 195. curiously = fancifully ? ingeniously ? 



186 HAMLET, [act V. 

Hamlet, No, faith, not a jot ; but to follow him thither 
with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it ; as thus : 
Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth 
into dust ; the dust is earth ; of earth we make loam ; and 
why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not 
stop a beer-barrel? 201 

Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay. 
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away ; 
O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, 
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw ! 
But soft ! but soft ! aside ! here comes the king. 206 

Enter Priests, etc, in procession; the Coriose of Ophelia, 
Laertes and Mourners following ; King, Queen, their 
trains^ etc. 

The queen, the courtiers ; who is that they follow? 

And with such maimed rites ? This doth betoken 

The corse they follow did with desperate hand 

Fordo it own life ; 't was of some estate. - 210 

Coueh we awhile, and mark. \_Retiring with Horatio. 

Laertes. What ceremony else ? 

Hamlet, That is Laertes, a very noble youth ; mark. 

Laertes, What ceremony else ? 

1 Priest, Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd 215 

— Lat. curiosiis, careful ; cura, care. — Horatio anticipates some fanciful 
or far-fetched reasoning by Hamlet [Rolfe] ? — 199. loam. A. S. lam, a 
strengthened form of the A S. word Km, which meant bitumen, cement. 
The base is in Lat. U-nere, to smear. Akin to Iwie, which meant a 
viscous substance, mortar, etc. Evidently something more tenacious 
than our mixture of sand, clay, etc. — 202. imperial. The quartos have 
imperious. Different sense now ? then ? — 205. flaw = Aiolent gust or 
sudden blast? Norwegian, /a/ye, flaag, sudden gust of wind. Akin to 
Liat. flare, to blow? — For similarity of idea, Rblfe cites In Memoriam, 
LVI. ; and Moberly, Wordsworth II. 93. — 208. maimed = imperfect ? 
curtailed ? Suicides were buried where cross-roads met ; a stake was 
thrust through the body; no service was read? — 210. fordo. The 
inseparable preposition A. S./or = forth, away (perhaps akin to fare). It 
denotes, (1) removal, as in forbid = bid awaj^; (2) w^ith accessory idea 
of disappearing, a.s forgive = give away, or out of sight, /orc?o ; (3) with 
accessory idea of going wrong, as forsioear — swear falsely; (4) with 
added idea of entireness, as forlorn = utterly lost. Besides these uses, 
note the prefix /or in forsooth, and the sense of fore in forioard. Gibbs. 

— it. See I. ii. 216. — estate = rank ? So in Mer. of Venice, II. ix. 40. — 
Old Fr. estat ; Lat. status, standing, civil rank; stare, to stand. — 211. 
coueh = lie down, and so hide [Clark and Wright] ? hide, perhaps lie 
down [Rolfe] ? — Lat. co//ocare (from con, together, locdre, to place), to 



y'i. 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 18_7 

As we have warrantise : her death was doubtful ; 

And, but that great command o'ersways the order, 

She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd 

Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers, 

Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her : 220 

Yet here she is allow 'd her virgin rites, 

Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home 

Of bell and burial. 

Laertes. Must there no more be done? 

1 Priest. No more be done ; 

We should profane the service of the dead 226 

To sing a requiem and such rest to her 
As to peace-parted souls. 

Laertes. Lay her i' the earth ; — 

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 
May violets spring ! — I tell thee, churlish priest, 
A ministering angel shall my sister be, 230 

When thou liest howling. 



place together; Old Fr. colcher ; Fr. coucher^ to lie down. Bracket and 
Skeat. — 216. warrantise. TFa^To^^ie in most early editions. Possible 
allusion to coroner's warrant permitting Christian burial ? — Initial 
ic=gu before a; so that guaranty is a doublet of ican-anty ? — doubt- 
ful. See the queen's description, IV. vii. 165-182. — 217. order = course 
prescribed bj^ ecclesiastical rules [Caldecott] ? The rubric before the 
Burial Office in the Book of Common Praj^er reads, *'Here it is to be 
noted that the Ofhce ensuing is not to be used for any . . . who have 
laid violent hands upon themselves." — 219. For = instead of ? Abbott^ 
148. — 220. shards = fragments of pots, tiles, rubbish? potsherds? — 
A. S. sceard, broken, a broken thing ; scearii, a share ; sceran, to shear. 
Allied to ^/ired. — rites. The quartos have crants ; meaning garlands, 
or a crown, a chaplet ? Johnson thinks that Shakespeare lirst wrote 
crants, and afterwards changed it to a " less proper" word, rites. — 222. 
strewments. The custom is indicated in Romeo and Juliet, IV. v. 74, 
75, 85 ; V. iii. 281 ; Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 129 ; Cymbeline, IV. ii. 219-225. 
Streicments i^ not found elsewhere in Shakespeare. — bringing home 
Of = bringing home with ? As the bride was brought to her husband's 
house with bell and festivity and floral bloom, so, larded with sweet 
flowers, Ophelia is borne to her long home with bell and pra^-ers and 
shrouding sheet. — 226. requiem = mass for the repose of the soul ? 
From the words Requiem ceternam dona eis, Domine, Rest everlasting 
give them, Lord. — Lat. requies, rest. — The folios have sage, instead 
of a, before requiem. Plausibly V — 227. peace-parted = peacefully 
parted, departed in peace [Clark and AV right] ? To parallel this com- 
pound, we have death-practised, in Lear, IV. vi. 255 ; timebj-parted in 
2 Henry VI. ,111. ii. 161. — 229. violets, etc. Tennyson {In Memoriam, 
XVIII.) and Persius {Sat. 1. 37) have parallel passages. —230. minister- 
ing angel. "Are they [the angels] not all ministering vspirits ? " See 
Hebrews i. 14 ; and the exquisitely tender lines of Spenser on the minis- 
try of angels, Faerie QueenCf Book II., canto viii., stanzas 1, 2. — 231. 



188 HAMLET, [act V. 

Hamlet. What, the fair Ophelia ! 

Queen, Sweets to the sweet ; farewell ! 

\_Scattering floicers. 
I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Harolet's wife ; 
I thought thy bricle-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid, 235 

And not t' have strew'd thy grave. 

Laertes, O, treble woe 

Fall ten times treble on that cursed head 
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense 
Depriv'd thee of ! — Hold off the earth awhile, 
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. 

[_Lea.2Js into the grave. 
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead, 240 

Till of this flat a mountain you have made 
To o'ertop old Pelion or the skyish head 
Of blue Olympus. 

Hamlet. \^Advandng~\ What is he whose grief 
Bears such an emphasis ? whose phrase of sorrow 45 

Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand 
Like wonder- wounded hearers? This is I, 
Hamlet the Dane I \_Leaps into the grave, 

Laertes, The devil take thy soul ! 

\_Grappling with him, 

Hamlet, Thou pray'st not well. 
I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat ; 250 

For, though I am not splenitive and rash, 



What, the fair Ophelia! Where is his language of grief at this su- 
preme raoment? — 233, 234. Would shouldst have been and to have now 
be allowable after hoped and thought? Abbott, 360. — 237. ingenious 
= intelligent, keen in apprehension [Clark and Wright, etc.] ? ingenuous, 
guileless [Hudson] ? — " Shakespeare often uses ingenious indiscrimi- 
nately with ingenuous.'^ Schmidt. — Lat. ingenium, temper; natural 
capacit}^ ; genius. — sense = intellect [Rolfe] ? Was she intellectual? 
guileless rather ? — 240. quick. V. i. 120. —242. Pelion, etc. The giants 
battling against the gods piled Pelion on Ossa, and both on the slopes 
of Olympus, to scale Olympus itself, whose summit was the abode of 
the gods. These three mountains are on the east side of ancient Thes- 
saly. Olympus is near ten thousand feet high. See Class. Diet. — 244. 
conjures. See IV. iii. 63. — Accent? — wandering stars = planets ? 
the stars, generally, moving through the heavens ? — Had Laertes con- 
jured them ? — 248. Hamlet the Dane. White thinks this a proclama- 
tion of his royal rank, a claim that he is the rightful king? Probable ? 
See I. i. 15 ; I. ii. 44. — Werder thinks this sentence, "This is I," etc., is 
Hamlet's answer to the question he has just asked. Reasonable ? — 249. 
Thou pray'st, etc. A litotes, marking the perfect self-possession of 
Hamlet and his real love for Laertes [Moberly] ? Likely ? — 251. splen- 



SCENE I.] HAMLET. 189 

Yet have I something in me dangerous, 

Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand ! 

King, Pluck them asunder. 

Queen. Hamlet, Hamlet ! 255 

All. Gentlemen, — 

Horatio. Good my lord, be quiet. 

\_The Attendants part tlieni^ and they come out of the grave, 

Hamlet. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme 
Until my eyelids will no longer wag. 

Queen. O my son, what theme? 

Hamlet. I lov'd Ophelia ; forty thousand brothers 
Could not, with all their quantity of love, 260 

Make up my sum. — What wilt thou do for her? 

King. O, he is mad, Laertes. 

Queen. For love of God, forbear him. 

Hamlet. 'S wounds, show me w^hat thou 'It do : 
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself? 
Woo't drink up eisel? eat a crocodile? 266 

I '11 do 't. Dost thou come here to whine? 
To outface me with leaping in her grave ? 
Be buried quick with her, and so will I ; 

And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw 270 

Millions of acres on us, till our ground. 
Singeing his pate against the burning zone, 



itive = passionate ? We find spleeny and spleenful in Shakespeare in 
this sense. — The spleen was supposed to be the seat of anger and iU- 
humored melancholy. Gr. o-TrArjv, splen ; Lat. splen, the milt or spleen. 
— 253. wisdom. The folios have iciseness, which Knight and others 
adopt. Is it equally good ? — Note the personification. — 257. wag. 
III. iv. 39. — 259. forty. II. ii. 159. — 260. quantity. III. iv. 75. ''Here 
the context implies that the word has a depreciatory meaning " [Clark 
and Wright]? —263. forbear = bear with, hold awaV from V A. S.for, 
away; heran, bear. Akin to Liat.ferre ; Gr. (^epetv, pherein, to bear. V. i. 
210. —264. Swouiids. II. ii. 562. — 265. Woo't. Contracted from icoiddst 
thou or icilt thou [Rolfe] ? A colloquialism, by which Hamlet marks 
his contempt for Laertes [Clark and Wright]? — 266. eisel. This word, 
like eale in I. iv. 36, has been a standing puzzle. See Furness. — Eisel 
or eysell = vinegar ? This seems plausible to Furness, who cites a mul- 
titude of opinions. The next best interpretation makes it the river 
Yssel, the luost northern branch of the Rhine towards Denmark? — A. S. 
and Old Fr. aisel ; Lat. acetum, vinegar. See Shakespeare's Sonnet 
CXI. — crocodile. The learned commentators think that a dried or 
stuffed or pickled one is meant. It is Schmidt and not Tschischwitz 
who remarks that "the crocodile is a mournful animal" ! — 268. in = 
into? Abbott, 159.-269. quick. Line 120. —272. zone = the sun's 
diurnal orbit in the celestial sphere ? the sun's sphere in the Ptolemaic 



190 HAMLET. [act V. 

Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay, an thou 'It mouth, 
I '11 rant as well as thou. 

Queen, This is mere madness : 275 

And thus awhile the fit will work on him ; 
Anon, as patient as the female dove. 
When that hei* golden couplets are disclos'd, 
His silence will sit drooping. ; 

Hamlet, Hear you, sir ; 

What is the reason that you use me thus ? 
I lov'd 3^ou ever. — But it is no matter ; 280 

Let Hercules himself do what he may. 
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. J [_Exit, 

King, I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him. — 

\_Exit Horatio. 
[To Laertes] Strengthen your patience in our last night's 
speech ; 286 

We '11 put the matter to the present push. — 
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son. 
This grave shall have a living monument : 
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ; 
Till then, in patience our proceeding be. \_Exeunt. 

astronomy? — 273. mouth. III. ii. 2.-278. that. See IV. iv. 5. iSo, 
as, and that were frequentlj^ affixed to lolio, when, lohere, to give a rela- 
tive meaning to these original interrogatives, and afterwards thej^ made 
the relative sense more general and indefinite. Abbott, 2S7. — golden 
couplets. The pigeon sits on two eggs, and the newly-hatched birds 
are covered with a yellow down ? — disclosed = hatched ? — Lines 
275-278 are assigned by the folios to the king. Properly ? AYould he 
talk of doves, etc. ? — 282. cat . • . dog, etc. = it is the very nature of 
mankind to act capriciously [Moberly] ? things will have their appointed 
course [Caldecott] ? Tschischwitz rises to explain, thus : " Let the her- 
culean power of Laertes do what it may; the cat [i.e., the king], which 
creeps stealthily in the dark, mew; the faithful dog [i.e., Hamlet] will 
have his turn at last "! —284. in = in the thought of? Abbott, 162. — 
285. put, etc. = push on the matter immediatelv [Schmidt]? — present. 
IV. iii. 64; II. ii. 170, 578. —push = test [Clark and Wright]? Lat. 
piilsare, to beat, strike, thrust: Fr. pousser, to push, thrust, sprout. — 
287. living -- lasting [Schmidt]? like life itself [Moberly]? A double _ 
sense ; first, *' enduring," as the queen would understand it ; secondly, 
menacing Hamlet's life, as Laertes might darkly infer [Clark and 
Wright] V — Some critics will have it that Hamlet is calm, philosophical, 
through this whole scene. — How do his words and deeds bear on the 
question of his insanity ? 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 191 

Scene II. A Hall in the Castle, 
Enter Hamlet and Horatio. 

Hamlet, So much for this, sir ; now let me see the other : 
You do remember all the circumstance ? 

Horatio, Eemember it, my lord ! 

Hamlet, Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting, 
That would not let me sleep ; methought I lay 5 

Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly, — 
And prais'd be rashness for it, let us know, 
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, 
AVhen our deep plots do pall ; and that should teach us 
There 's a divinity that shapes our ends, 10 

Rough-hew them how we will, J— 

Horatio, That is most certain. 

Hamlet, Up from my cabin. 

Scene II. — 1. For tliis=for Ophelia's death, etc. [Weiss]?— the 
other = the further matter intimated in that letter : '*! have words to 
speak in thine ear will make thee dumb " [Hudson] ? IV. vi. 22, 23. — 
4. would not let me sleep. He has a vague general apprehension of 
mischief [Hudson] ? — 6. mutines = mutineers ? III. iv. 83. — bilboes 
= stocks made of a bar of iron, with rings attached, in which the legs of 
prisoners on board ship were placed? Such fetters, spoils of the famous 
Armada, are still shown in the Tower of London. Bilboa in Spain was 
for many centuries famous for its iron and steel. Swords made there 
were also called bilboes. — Rashly = hastily ? Danish and Swedish rask, 
brisk, quick, rash ; Mid. Eng. rasch. The final -sch stands for -sk, as usual. 
The original sense is excitable, prompt to attack. The -b/ is A. S. lie, 
like. Skeat. — l. let us know, etc. = let us not think these things 
casual; but let us know, that is, take notice and remember [Johnson]? 
know = recognize and acknowledge [Clark and Wright]? — 9. deep. 
The folios have dear, which many prefer? Wisely ? — pall. Pall is from 
the Old Fr. palser, to fade, or fall aivay. Hudson. Pall =^ grow vapid 
and tasteless, like wine ; hence, become vain and worthless [Clark and 
Wright]? — Akin to Welsh palln, to fail, to cease ; C oruish palch, weak, 
sickly ; Gr. a^xxWeaOai, sphallesthai, to stumble, stagger, fall, fail ; Latin 
fallere, passive ; falli, to be deceived, duped. Pall is a mere doublet of 
fall or fail. Skeat. Pope read fail, and most editors have followed 
him. But, if a good sense can be got from the old text, should we not 
adhere to it? In Antony and Cleopatra, II. vii. 83, we read " palled for- 
tunes," meaning, evidently, impaired, waning fortunes. — 10, 11. shapes 
our ends, etc. Dr. Farmer's learned explanation of these noble lines is 
as follows : " These words are merely technical. A wood-man, butcher, 
and dealer in skeivers, lately observed to him [Dr. Farmer] that his 
nephew (an idle lad) could only assist him in making them: ' he could 
Toiifih-heiD them, but I was obliged to shape their ends.' " What was the 
business of Shakespeare's father ? — 11. That is most certain. Moberly 
regards this as expressive of slight impatience at Hamlet's generaliza- 
tion. Probable? — 12. Up from, etc. The idea in the word rashly^ 



192 BAMLET. [act V. 

My sea-gown scarf d about me, in the dark 

Grop'd I to find out them ; had my desire, 

Finger'd their packet, and in fine withdrew l^ 

To mine own room again ; making so bold, 

My fears forgetting manners, to unseal 

Their grand commission ; where I found, Horatio, — 

O royal knavery ! — an exact command. 

Larded with many several sorts of reasons 20 

Importing Denmark's health and England's too, 

With, ho ! such bugs and goblins in my life, 

That, on the supervise, no leisure bated. 

No, not to stay the grinding of the axe. 

My head should be struck off. 25 

Horatio, Is 't possible? 

Hamlet, Here 's the commission ; read it at more leisure. 
But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed ? 

Horatio, I beseech you. 

Hamlet, Being thus be-netted round with villanies — 
Ere I could make a prologue to my brains, 30 



interrupted by the parenthesis, is resumed here? — 13. sea-gown, — 
high-collared, short-sleeved, reaching to the mid leg, and used most by 
seamen. Cotgrave. — scarf 'd = thrown on like a scarf? — 14. find out 
them. Note the order of these words. Noio such arrangement would 
give emphasis to them? Abbott, 240. — 15. finger'd, etc. Hamlet's 
stratagem was possible, but not very probable [Hanmer] ? — 17. to un- 
seal = as to unseal? Mer. of Venice, III. iii. 10; Macbeth, II. iii. 32; Abbott, 
281. — The quartos read unfold. Which is better? See lines 47,52.— 
19. Oh. The quartos have ^ F Better? ^ might stand fora/i? — 20. 
larded. IV. v. 37. — several = separate, different ? — 21. Importing 
= gravely affecting, concerning [Clark and Wright]? signifying? Lat. 
imxjortdre, introduce, bring, cause ; Fr. importer, to be of consequence, 
to concern. —Different meaning in I. ii. 23 ; IV. iii. 62 ; IV. vii. 80? — 
22. bugs = bugbears ? So used several times in Shakespeare. Welsh 
btog ; Cornish bucca ; Gaelic and Irish bocan, a hobgoblin, spectre, terri- 
fying object. Bugbear, a spectre in shape of a bear ! Skeat. — goblins. 
*' Goblins . . . belonged to the genus Humbug." Hudson. Gr. /co/SaAo?, 
kobalos, an impudent rogue, sprite, goblin ; Low Lat. gobelinus, cobdlus, 
a goblin, demon. The reddish-gray mineral, cobalt, appears to have 
received its name as a nickname, given it by miners because it poisoned 
and troubled them ! — 23. supervise = supervision, first reading? — Lat. 
super, over; visere, to survey, view. Abbott, 45L — bated = taken out 
(of the interval between the receipt of the command and its execution) 
[Clark and Wright]? excepted, allowed [Rolfe, etc.]? subtracted so as 
to diminish the sudden sharpness? IV. vii. 137. — 29. be-netted. The 
be intensifies? See beshrew, II. i. 113. J 66o^^, 438. — villanies. The 
quartos read i;i7^ai?ies. Reasons for preferring ^;^7/cmi>s .? — 30. Ere. The 
quartos have Or in the same sense. — a prologue often introduced 
a play. Gr. 7rp6Aoyo9, prologos, a " fore-speech ;" 7rp6, before, Aoyo?, dis- 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 193 

They had begun the play — I sat me down, 

Devis'd a new commission, wrote it fair ; 

I once did hold it, as our statists do, 

A baseness to write fair, and labor' d much 

How to forget that learning, but, sir, now 35 

It did me yeoman's service. Wilt thou know 

The effect of what I wrote ? 

Horatio, Ay, good my lord. 

Hamlet, An earnest conjuration from the king. 
As England was his faithful tributary. 

As love between them like the palm might flourish, 40 

As peace should still her wheaten garland wear 
And stand a comma 'tween their amities. 
And many such-like as's of great charge, 
That, on the view and knowing of these contents, 
Without debatement further, more or less, 45 

He should the bearers put to sudden death, 

course. — 31. They = the brains [Johnson, Hudson, Moberly, etc.]? the 
villains [Theobald, Warburton, etc.] ? " Clarke sees here a vivid picture 
of Shakespeare's own mode of composition, his teeming brains begin- 
ning a play and seeing all its scope and bearing before he had well 
penned the opening words." Likely? — 31. sat me. "This reflexive 
use of sit [in "I sit me down," Goldsmith's Traveller, line 32] is not 
unusual in our old writers." Rolfe, who cites Paradise Lost, IX. 1121 ; 
Tennyson's Lotus-Eaters, line 37, and suggests the French s'asseoir. — 33. 
statists = statesmen ? '*A hybrid word, coined from the substantive 
state by adding the sufifix -ist (Fr. -iste; Lat. -ista, Gr. -io-ttj?, -istes)." 
Skeat. In Cymbeline, II. iv. 16, and in Paradise Regained, IV. 354, the 
word means statesmen. — " It was accounted a mechanical and vulgar 
accomplishment to write a fair hand." Hudson. — 36. yeoman's = good 
and faithful [Clark and Wright] ? ** The English yeomanry, with their 
huge bows and long arrows, were the most terrible fighters in Europe." 
Hudson. — Old Friesic ga, go, district, village ; gaman, a villager ; allied 
to Ger. gau, a province. — 42. comma. Critics have tried their hands at 
emendations here, suggesting, for comma, *' commere," " co-mate," " co- 
mere," '* as one," "at-one," "cement," etc. Clarke ingeniously suggests 
that comma is here a musical term expressing " the ninth part of a 
tone," "the least of all the sensible intervals in music," " showing the 
exact proportions between accords.'^ Observe, however, that a comma 
connects what it separates. Note, too, that Hamlet is at this moment 
writing with the utmost care a state document, with due attention to 
rhetorical construction, capitals, spelling, punctuation points, seal, etc. 
He must even think of commas ! — 43. as's. As was pronounced ass, 
and Johnson thinks there is a quibble here. — charge = load, burden, 
weight? — Lat. carrus, a car; Low Lat. carricare, to load a car; 
carr(i)care, car' care ; Fr. charger, to load. Skeat and Bracket. — 44. 
knowing. The folios read knoiv. Your preference? In Macbeth, II. 
iv. 4, and elsewhere, Shakespeare uses knowings and knoiving as nouns. 
— 45. debatement = consideration? discussion ? — Lat. de, down ; batu- 
ere, to beat ; popular form, batere ; Fr. debattre, to argue, debate. — 



194 HAMLET. [act V. 

Not shriving- time allow' d. 

Horatio. How was this seal'd? 

Hamlet. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant. 
I had my father's signet in my purse, 

Which was the model of that Danish seal ; 50 

Folded the writ up in form of the other. 
Subscribed it, gave 't the impression, plac'd it safely. 
The changeling never known. Now, the next day 
AYas our sea-fight ; and what to this was sequent 
Thou know'st already. 55 

Horatio. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to 't. 

Hamlet. Why, man, i\iey did make love to this employ- 
ment : 
They are not near m}^ conscience ; their defeat 
Does by their own insinuation grow. 

'T is dangerous when the baser nature comes 60 

Between the pass and fell incensed points 
Of mighty opposites. 

Horatio. Why, what a king is this ! 

Hamlet. Does it not, thinks 't thee, stand me now upon — 

47. shriving-tiine = time for confession and absolution [Hudson]? A 
term in common use for any short period [Hunter] V — A. S. scrifan, to 
shrive, impose a penance or compensation. The particular sense is due 
to the legal use of Lat. scribere : (1) to write, draw up a law; (2) to impose 
a legal obligation or penalty ; (3) to impose or prescribe a penance. Skeat. 
— AYas Hamlet cruel in his treatment of his old friends ? — 48. ordinant 
= ordaining, arranging, ruling? Lat. ordinare, to set in order. Rowe, 
Pope, and others follow the folio reading, ''ordinate." Well? — 50. 
model = pattern ? original ? copy ? exact counterpart ? Old Fr. modelle; 
Ital. modello, a model, a mould; as if from Lat. modellus, diminutive 
of modulus, diminutive of modus, measure, manner, way. — 51. writ = 
mandate written and sealed? See Laic Dictionary. — 53. changeling. 
" A child left or taken in the place of another, as by fairies." Webster. 
The paper left ? or the one taken? — A hybrid word? Late Lat. cambi- 
dre, to change ; Fr. changer, to change ; Eng. suffix -ling, diminutive, as 
darling, duckling, seedHng, etc. — 56. go to 't. Justly? Had they 
known the contents of the first " commission," would they have turned 
back to Denmark after Hamlet's capture ? — 57. Why, man, etc. This 
line not in the quartos. Needful? — 58. def eat = overthrow? destruc- 
tion?— The folios have debate. Possibly right? — See 11. ii.556. — 59. 
insinuation = artful intrusion ? crooked policy [Clark and Wright] ? 
— Lat. insinudre, to introduce by winding and bending ; in, in ; sinuarey 
to wind about ; sinus, a bend. — 61. pass = thrust, a push ? Lat. passus, 
a step. — See stage direction. III. iv. 23. — incensed = inflamed, fiery, 
on fire with anger? Lat. incendere, to kindle, set on fire. — 62. oppo- 
sites = opponents ? III. ii. 20^ ; Twelfth Night, III. iv. 254. —The pic- 
ture is of two mighty combatants fighting with swords ? — 63. thinks 't 
thee = seems it to thee ? " Thinks " in methinks is the impersonal A. S. 
thynceth, it seems, from thyncan, to seem ; and is quite different from 



SCENE II.] HAMLET, 195 

He that hath kiird my king and w d my mother, 65 

Popp'd in between the election and my hopes, 

Thrown out his angle for my proper life, 

And with such cozenage — is 't not perfect conscience. 

To quit him with this arm? and is 't not to be damn'd. 

To let this canker of our nature come 

In further evil? 70 

Horatio, It must be shortly known to him from England 
What is the issue of the business there. 

Hamlet. It will be short : the interim is mine ; 
And a man's life 's no more than to say ^ One.' 
But I am very sorry, good Horatio, 75 

That to Laertes I forgot myself ; 
For, by the image of my cause, I see 
The portraiture of his. I '11 count his favors ; 
But, sure, the braver}^ of his grief did put me 
Into a towering passion. 

Horatio. Peace ! who comes here ? 80 

thinks, meaning to exercise the mind, suppose, opine, from A. S. then- 
can, to think ? *' There are many more impersonal verbs in Early Eng- 
lish tlian in Elizabethan, and many more in Elizabethan than in Mod- 
ern English." Why? Abbott, 2^1. — stand . . . upon = be incumbent 
or imperative upon? — The readings of the early eds. vary, thinkst, 
think' St, thinks or thinke, and think. Choose ! — 64. We omit the coarse 
word before " mother." — 65. election. Throne elective ? — 66. angle = 
fishing-hook? hook and line? angling line? — Gr. oiyKuyv, angkon, a 
bend ; Lat. uncus, a hook ; A. S. angel, in Matt. xvii. 27, is fish-hook. 

— proper = own? Lat. propr/^/s, one's own. — cozenage. III. iv. 77. 

— 67. perfect conscience ^^perfecth' consistent with a good conscience 
[Rolfe] ? in keeping with a perfect conscience ? — 68. quit = requite? 
Line 257; see quietus, III. i. 75. — 70. in = into? come in = commit? 
V. I. 268. Abbott, 159. —71. It must be shortly, etc. Cautious, indi- 
rect suggestion of the need of instant action ? — 73. interim. Hoiv short 
is that interim ? See lines 355-358. Hudson says, " Hamlet justly looks 
forward to the coming of that news as the crisis of his task : it will bring 
things to a head, and give him a practicable twist [sic] on the king. He 
can then meet both him and the public with justifying proof of his 
guilt." But is Hamlet to wait for that arrival ? Must he not act be- 
fore?— Says Miles: Hamlet "is transformed by a great resolve; his 
mind is made up I The return of the vessel from England will be the 
signal for his own execution, and therefore the moral problem is solved: 
the only chance of saving his life from a lawless murderer is to slay 
him; ... he can do it with a perfect conscience. He has calculated the 
return voyage ; he has allowed the longest duration to his own exist- 
ence and the king's. At the very moment he encounters the clown in 
the churchyard, he is on his death-march to the palace at Elsinore." — 
78. his, etc. Each has lost a father ; both have lost Ophelia? Is this 
the meaning?— count. Rowe, followed by White, Hudson, Rolfe, 
Clark and Wright, etc., reads court. The folio reading, count, may mean 
make account of, take into account, reckon uj), value. — 79. bravery = 



196 HAMLET, [act V. 

Enter Osrig. 

Osric. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark. 

Hamlet. I humbly thank you, sir. — [Aside to Horatio] 
Dost know this water-fly ? 

Horatio, [Aside to Hamlet] No, my good lord. 

Hamlet, [Aside to Horatio] Thy state is the more gracious ; 
for 't is a vice to know him. He hath much land, and fer- 
tile ; let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at 
the king's mess. 'T is a chough, but, as I say, spacious in 
the possession of dirt. 

Osric, Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should 
impart a thing to you from his majesty. 91 

Hamlet. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit. 
Put your bonnet to his right use ; 't is for the head. 

Osric, I thank your lordship, it is very hot. 

Hamlet. No, believe me, 't is very cold ; the wind is north- 
erly. 

Osric. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. 

Hamlet. But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for ray 
complexion. 

Osric. Exceedingly, my lord ; it is very sultry, — as 't 
were, — I cannot tell how. But, my lord, his majesty bade 



ostentatious display [Clark and Wright]? bravado [Dyce] ? — See hrave, 

II. ii. 295 ; Julius Ccesar, V. i. 10. — 83. water-fly. " A water-fly skips 
up and down upon the surface of the water without any apparent pur- 
pose or reason, and is thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler." 
Johnson. — 85. gracious. I. i. 164. — 87. crib. A. S. crib, manger, 
rack, stall. — Hudson sees rightly a sarcastic fling at the king? — 88. 
chough = jackdaw [Johnson]? wealthy boor [Caldecott] ? "Called a 
chough, bird of the jackdaw sort, because he chatters euphuistic jargon 
by rote" [Hudson]'? Macbeth, III. iv. 125 ; Tempest, II. i. 265. —A. S. 
ced, a bird of the crow family ; Mid. Eng chough. Imitati\^e name from 
the sound of caiving ; Dutch kaauiv ; Danish kaa? It should be remem- 
bered that letters silent now were sounded once. So sound chough, 
cough, etc., and you see with Byron how harsh the language was, — 

'* Our northern whistling grunting guttural. 
Which we're obliged to hiss and spit and sputter all." 

~ 90. sweet. Elizabethan court language ? III. ii. 48. lordship. 

The fo\io?ih3iye friendship. As good? — 93. bonnet = cap? The origi- 
nal sense is " stuff : " origin unknown. Brachet. Chapel de bonnet, cap 
of stuff , w^as abridged as "a beaver hat" is abridged to *'a beaver." 
Skeat.~91. indifferent. III. i. 122. Osric resembles Polonius? See 

III. ii. 351-358. —98. hot for. The quartos have hot o?% which many 
prefer, as if Hamlet were interrupted when about to add, deceives me. 
— complexion = constitution ? bodily condition ? See I. iv. 27. — 104. 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 197 

me signify to you that he has laid a great wager on your 
head. Sir, this is the matter, — 103 

Hamlet, I beseech you, remember — 

[Hamlet moves Mm to put on his hat, 

OsTic. Nay, in good faith ; for mine ease, in good faith. 
Sir, here is newly come to court Laertes ; believe me, an ab- 
solute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very 
soft society and great showing : indeed, to speak feelingly of 
him, he is the card or calendar of gentry, for you shall find 
in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see. no 

Hamlet, Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you ; 
though, I know, to divide him inventorially would dizzy the 
arithmetic of memory, and yet but yaw neither, in respect of 
his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him 
to be a soul of great article, and his infusion of such dearth 
and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable 

remember. The full phrase is supposed to have been remember your 
courtesy, which implied, says Hudson, " Complete your courtesy and 
replace your hat." Love's Jjahor's Lost, V. i. 87. — 105. for mine ease, 
one of the affected or ceremonial phrases of the time. — Lines 106-139 
omitted in the folios. Are they important? — 107. excellent differ- 
ences = distinctive excellences [Hudson]? distinctions marking him 
out from the rest of men [Clark and \Yright] ? "Affected johrase, prob- 
ably suggested by the heraldic use of the word" {differences)'? See 
Unabridged Diet.— 108. feelingly = so as to hit it exactly [SchmidtJ ? 
rightly [Dyce] ? with insight and intelligence [Caldecott] ? apprecia- 
tively? — 109. card or calendar. "The card by which a gentleman 
is to direct his course ; the calendar by which he is to choose his time ; 
that what he does may be both excellent and seasonable." Johnson. 
V. i. 131. — gentry = gentility [Clark and Wright]? courtesy, gentle- 
manliness [Rolf e] ? — 110. continent = container ? sum total? See IV. 
iv. 64. Does card mean map, and does it suggest continent? — part = 
talent. See IV. vii. 72. — 111. definement == description ? Hamlet is 
meeting Osric on his own ground, and outdoing him in euphuism? — 
perdition = loss ? Lat. perditio, utter loss, destruction ; perdere, to lose 
utterly; destroy. — 112. dizzy, etc. = make a mathematician's head 
swim? — 113. yaw = vacillate, reel hither and thither [Hudson]? hold 
too unsteady a course to overtake his deserts [Moberly] ? swerve? — 
Scandinavian word. Norwegian gaga, to bend backward ; Icel. gagr, 
bent back. Probably a reduplicated form of go [as if go go /] . Skeat. — in 
respect of = in comparison with [Hudson] ? in view of [Elze] ? in pur- 
suit of (his swift-sailing ship) [Clark and Wright] ? — 115. great article 
= large comprehension, many contents [Johnson] ? many items [Rolfe]? 
of great account or value [Caldecott]? Does znre?z^o?'?/ suggest article? 
— infusion = endowments, qualities [Schmidt]? essential qualities 
[Clark and Wright] ? qualities with which he is imbued or tinctured 
[Caldecott] ? Lat. in, into ; fundere, to pour. — dearth ^scarcity, dear- 
ness, high value ? From A. S. dedre, dear ; akin to Icel. dyrdh, value. 
The suffix -th, annexed to adjectives, denotes the quality, as leng-th, 
icarm-th, dear-th. — 116. semblable = semblance, resemblance, likeness ? 
Lat. simulare, to assume the appearance of, simulate ; Fr. sembler, to 




198 HAMLET, [act V. 

is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage, 
nothing more. 

Osric, Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him. 

Hamlet. The concernancy, sir? why do we wrap the gen- 
tleman in our more rawer breath ? 121 

Osric. Sir? 

Horatio. Is 't not possible to understand in another tongue ? 
You will do 't, sir, really. 

Hamlet. What imports the nomination of this gentleman ? 

Osric. Of Laertes? 

Horatio. ^Aside to Hamlet] His purse is empty already ; 
all 's golden words are spent. 

Hamlet. Of him, sir. 

Osric. I know you are not ignorant — 130 

Hamlet. I would you did, sir ; yet, in faith, if you did, it 
would not much approve me. Well, sir? 

'O^^ic. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes 
is — 

Hamlet. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare 
with him in excellence ; but, to know a man well, were to 
know himself. 

Osric. I mean, sir, for his weapon ; but in the imputation 
laid on him by them, in his meed he 's unfellowed. 

Hamlet. What 's his weapon? 140 

Osric. Rapier and dagger. 

Hamlet. That 's two of his weapons ; but, well. 



resemble, seem; semhlahle, like. — 117. trace = follow [Rolfe, etc.]? 
delineate [Meiklejohn] ? track, or keep pace with [Hudson] ? — Lat. tra- 
here, to draw; tractus, drawn ; Fr. tracer, to trace ; trace, a track. Is it 
akin to drag? — umbrage = shadow. Lat. uynhra, shade, shadow. — 

120. concernancy == relevancy, application, pertinency? meaning? — 

121. rawer. See nearer, II. i. 11. — 123,124. another tongue, than 
this euphuism ? " Can't you understand your own absurd language on 
another man's tongue ? Use your wits, sir, and you'll soon be at the 
bottom of it." Moherly. — Malone and others think that the speech is 
addressed to Hamlet. You ? — 125. nomination = naming. Lat. nomen, 
that by which a thing is known, a name. {g)no-sco, I know. — 132. ap- 
prove = commend, make approved; be to (my) credit? Lat. prohiis, 
good ; prohare, to test the goodness of, try; approhdre, to commend.— 
135. compare with= assume to rival [Rolfe]? — but to know = o?iZ?/ 
to know [Hudson] ? — '* No man can completely know another but by 
knowing himself." Johnson. — 138. imputation = reputation V opinion? 
Lat. in, in, on ; putare, to reckon; imputdre, to bring into a reckoning ; 
Fr. imputer, to impute, ascribe, attribute to. — by them = by the public 
voice [Caldecott] ? Them like they indefinitely in " they say " ? — 139. 
meed = merit. A. S. medf reward, wages, hire, reward of merit. Used 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 199 

Osric, The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary 
horses ; against the which he has impon'd, as I take it, six 
French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, 
hangers, and so. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very 
dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate car- 
riages, and of very liberal conceit. 

Hamlet. What call you the carriages? 

Horatio, \_Aside to Hamlet] I knew you must be edified 
by the margent ere you had done. 151 

Osric, The carriages, sir, are the hangers. 

Hamlet, The phrase would be more germane to the matter, 
if we could carry cannon by our sides ; I would it might be 
hangers till then. But, on : six Barbary horses against six 
French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited car- 
riages ; that 's the French bet against the Danish. Why is 
this ' imponed,' as you call it? 

Osric, The king, sir, hath laid that in a dozen passes be- 
tween yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits : 
he hath laid on twelve for nine ; and it would come to im- 
mediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer. 

Hamlet, How if I answer no? 163 

in Matt. vi. 1; akin to Gr. fjnaOo^, misthos, pay. — 144. impon'd = 
staked [Schmidt] ? This is Osric's affected pronunciation of impawned 
[White] ? Paion is from Lat. pes, pedis, foot; Old Fr. paon, a pawn or 
foot-soldier in chess; Mod. Fr. pion. I. v. 163. — The quartos have im- 
paiiiid ; the folios, impon''d^ in which perhaps we should give o its short 
sound. — 145. assigns = appendages, belongings ? More euphuism ? — 
146. hangers = the straps by which the sword hangs from the belt? — 
148. liberal conceit = elaborate design [Clark and Wright]? tasteful 
design [Rolfe] ? — 150. edified by the margent = instructed by the 
explanation in the margin [Rolfe] ? enlightened or taught by marginal 
notes or comments? — Lat. mdes^ a building, originally a 'fire-place, 
hearth ; -fic-^ ioxfac-ere, to make ; Fr. edifier, to build up (mentally), in- 
struct. — Lat. margo, brink, margin, border. Margent (the only form in 
Shakespeare) is a doublet of margin, — In old books the notes were often 
in the margin. — 153. germane = akin, pertinent V Lat. germdnus, fully 
akin, said of brothers and sisters having the same parents ; from Lat. 
germen, a sprout, shoot, bud. — 161. twelve for nine. Johnson has 
pointed out the impossibility of this wager. Clark and Wright. The 
king is planning to bring about a long contest? In each*' pass" (or 
hont, V. ii. 272), both may be hit, or one, or neither. Laertes must hit 
Hamlet four times more than Hamlet hits Laertes. The possible hits 
are twelve on each side. If Laertes hits Hamlet twelve times, and 
Hamlet hits Laertes nine times, Hamlet wins. The king bets that 
Laertes cannot hit twelve times to Hamlet's eight ; in other words, the 
king lays (wagers, claims, goes in for) at least nine hits by Hamlet, on 
twelve (against the possible twelve] hits by Laertes ? — 162. ans^^er^ 
meeting his wishes [Caldecott] ? acceptance of the challenge [Rolfe] ? 
exposure of person in hostile combat ? — Hamlet takes answer in another 



200 HAMLET. [act Y. 

Osric. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in 
trial. 

Hamlet. Sir, I will walk here in the hall : if it please his 
majesty, 't is the breathing time of day with me ; let the 
foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold 
his purpose, I will win for him if I can ; if not, I will gain 
nothing but my shame and the odd hits. 170 

Osric. Shall I re-deliver you e'en so? 

Hamlet. To this effect, sir, after what flourish your nature 
will. 

Osric. I commend my duty to your lordship. 

Hamlet. Yours, yours. — \_Exit Osric] He does well to 
commend it himself ; there are no tongues else for 's turn. 

Horatio. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his 
head. 

Hamlet, He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it. 
Thus has he — and many more of the same bevy that I know 
the drossy age dotes on — only got the tune of the time and 
outward habit of encounter ; a kind of yesty collection, which 
carries them through and through the most fond and win- 
sense, because he likes to quiz Osric?— A. S. andsicerian^ to swear in 
opposition to, in trials at law ; and, Gr. am', anti, in opposition ; sioerian, 
to swear. — 167. breathing = exercise [Schraidt] ? relaxation and rest 
[Clark and Wright] ? — 168. hold. Capelle changes this to holding. Is 
there a '' confusion of constructions " ? Abbott, 411-416. — 169. will, for 
shall'? Abbott, 319. — 171. re-deliver = report [Clark and Wright]? 
See delivered, I. ii. 209; III. i. 94. — 177. lapwing. In Meres's Wit's 
Treasury (1598) we read, '* As the lapwing runneth away with the shell 
on her head as soon as she is hatched." ''A symbol of insincerity" 
from its '' habit of alluring intruders from its nest by crying far away 
from it." Hence, "forward and insincere"? A. S. hledpan, to run, 
spring, leap; A. S. wincan (pt. t. ivanc), to move from side to side, vacil- 
ate, waver. The sense is one who turns about in running or flight ! — 
Awading bird of the plover family. — 179. comply = use compliment, 
play the courtier [Rolfe] ? embrace [Singer] ? exchange comiDliments 
[White] ? II. ii. 363. '' The very sucking babes hath a kind of adula- 
tion towards their nurses for the dug." Fulwel's Arte of Flatter ie, 1579. 

— Swedish dUgga, to suckle, fondle. — bevy. Wedgwood cites the Fr. 
bevee, and explains it as "a brood, flock of quails, larks, roebucks; 
thence applied to a company of ladies generally." Hamlet has called 
Osric a chough and a lapwing. *' Modern Ital. beva means a drink ; 
. . . the Italian points to the original sense as being a company for 
drinking, from Old Fr. bevj^e, Ital. bevere [Lat. bibere], to drink." Skeat. 
The quartos have breed. May it be right? — 181. outward habit, etc. 
external address appropriate to an interview [Clark and Wright] V exte- 
rior politeness of address [Henley] ? — yesty collection = a frothy and 
superficial knowledge gathered in fragments [Clark and Wright] a gath- 
ering of mental and lingual froth [Hudson] ? — A. S. gist, gyst, yeast ; 
Gr. ^eeti^, zeein, to boil. — Histy or inisty in the quartos. Will either do? 

— Macbeth, IV. i. 53, has ''the yesty waves." — 183. fond = affected 



SCENE II. J HAMLET, 201 

nowed opinions ; and do but blow them to their trial, the 
bubbles are out. ^^^^^. ^ Lord. i«5 

Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by 
young Osric, who brings back to him, that you attend him 
in the hall ; he sends to know if your pleasure hold to play 
with Laertes, or that you will take longer time. 

Hamlet. I am constant to my purposes ; they follow the 
king's pleasure : if his fitness speaks, mine is ready ; now or 
whensoever, provided I be so able as now. 192 

Lord. The king and queen and all are coming down. 

Hamlet. In happy time. 

Lord. The queen desires you to use some gentle entertain- 
ment to Laertes before you fall to play. 

Hamlet. She well instructs me. \_Exit Lord. 

Horatio. You will lose this wager, my lord. 

Hamlet. I do not think so : since he went into France, I 
have been in continual practice ; I shall win at the odds. 
But thou wouldst not think how all here about my heart — 
but it is no matter. 202 

[Hudson] ? foolish [Rolfe] ? White, with Warburton, Dyce, Singer, etc., 
thinks fond a misprint for fancl — fanned, or fann'cl ; fan being often 
coupled with icinnoiv in Shakespeare's time. Tschischwitz would read 
profound, and Bailey, Clark and AYright incline to that reading. Many 
other emendations have been proposed. Fond, etc. = most sifted and 
wisest judgments [Caldecott] ? absurdest and most over-refined notions 
[Moberly] ? "Osric, and others like him, are compared to the chaff 
which mounts Ijigher than the sifted wheat, and to the bubbles which 
rise to the surface through the deeper water." Clark and Wright ; Hud- 
son concurs. — The quartos read propliane or profane. — 184. trial. The 
folios use the plural. Well ? — 185-197. The folios omit from Enter a 
Lord to Exit Lord. Is the passage worth retaining ? — 186. commended 
him to you, sent his compliments to you ? committed himself toyou? 
placed himself in your hands ? Lat. com for cum, with ; mandare, to 
commit. Is mandare from manus, hand, and dare, to give ; meaning 
literally to put into one's hand ? See Mer. of Venice, III. ii. 227; As 
You Like It, IV. iii. 91. — 189. or that - or if ? So in IV. vii. 61, 150. — 
191. fitness = convenience [Schmidt] ? — 194. in happy time. Like the 
French a la bonne heure? in good time; just in time? Repeatedly in 
Shakespeare. Julius Ccesa?', II. ii. 60. — 195. gentle entertainment = 
conciliating behavior [Caldecott] ? Old Fr. entretenir, to entertain ; Low 
Lat. inter, among ; tenere, to hold. — What is her motive? — 200. con- 
tinual practice. Can you reconcile this with II. ii. 291, 292 V — at 
the odds = with the advantage given me ? — 201. But thou wouldst, 
etc. " Shakespeare seems to mean all Hamlet's character to be brought 
together before his final disappearance ; his meditative excess in the 
grave-digging, his yielding to passion with Laertes, his love for Ophelia 
blazing out, his tendency to generalize on all occasions in the dialogue 
with Horatio, his fine gentlemanly manners with Osric, and his and 
Shakespeare's own fondness for presentiment." Coleridge. Is Coleridge 
right ? his summary complete ? — how all here about my heart — . 



202 HAMLET, [act V 

Horatio. Nay, good my lord, — 

Hamlet, It is but foolery ; but it is such a kind of gain- 
giving, as would perhaps trouble a woman. 

Horatio, If your mind dislike any thing, obey it. I will 
forestall their repair hither, and say you are not fit. 

Hamlet, Not a whit ; we defy augury : there 's a special 
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 't is not 
to come ; if it be not to come, it will be now ; if it be not 
now, yet it will come : the readiness is all. Since no man, 
of aught he leaves, knows, what is 't to leave betimes? 
Let be. 

Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Lords, Osric, and Attend- 
ants imtli foils ^ etc. 

King, Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me. 
\_The KisG puts Laertes's hajid into Hamlet's. 

Hamlet, Give me your pardon, sir : I 've done you wrong ; 
But pardon 't, as you are a gentleman. 215 

This presence knows. 

And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd 
With sore distraction. What I have done, 
That might your nature, honor, and exception 

So the folios. The quartos, which almost every editor follows, have, how 
ill airs here, etc. Which is more euphonious? more significant ? — 204. 
gain-giving = misgiving ? — A. S. gegn, against (like ?'e- or red- in 
Latin), as in gainsay, which is still used, though gainstand, gainstrive, 
and qaingive are obsolete. — 206. obey it. The folios omit it. Well ? 
— 207. repair. Noun, like avouch, I. i. 57. — Old Fr. repairer, to return 
home; Lat. repatridre ; re-, back; patria, fatherland. Brachet. — fit, 
Ready? suitable. The provincial English /e^i/e, arrange, is from the 
same root. Skeat. — 209. fall of a sparrow. See Matthew x. 29. — 
211, 212. Since no man . . . betimes. This is the reading of the 
quartos. The folios print, ** Since no man ha's ought of what he leaves. 
What is't," etc. Choice betwixt the two ? Any emendation necessary? 
Furness adopts the quarto reading, as we have punctuated it ; White, 
the folio, remarking that the text of the quartos is manifest^ wrong. 
Rolfe and Hudson follow Johnson and Steevens, thus : " Since no man 
knows aught of what he leaves, what," etc. — In Hamlet's mood, which 
is better, " no man knows,'' or " no man has " ? — 212. betimes == in good 
time ? — A. S. be or hi, by, and tima, time. Teutonic base, ti, to divide, 
apportion. The -s is due to the habit of adding -s or -es to form adverbs, 
as in lohiles. Skeat. — 214. your pardon, etc. *' I wish Hamlet had 
made some other defence ; it is unsuitable to the character of a brave or 
a good man to shelter himself in falsehood." Johnson. Seymour thinks 
that the passage from line 216 to 227 is an interpolation, because " the 
falsehood is too ignoble." But is there any falsehood? — 216. This 
presence. Abstract for concrete V So audience, line 228 ? — 219. ex- 
ception = objection, disapprobation ? As in the phrase to take exception 



SCENE II.] ' HAMLET, 203 

Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness. 220 

AYas 't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet: 

If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away, 

And when he 's not himself does wrong Laertes, 

Then Hamlet does it not ; Hamlet denies it. 

Who does it, then? His madness : if 't be so, 225 

Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd ; 

His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy. 

Sir, in this audience. 

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil 

Free me so far in your most generous thoughts, ' 230 

That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house, 

And hurt my brother. 

Laertes, I am satisfied in nature. 

Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most 
To my revenge ; but in my terms of honor 235 

I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement 
Till by some elder masters of known honor 
I have a voice and precedent of peace. 
To keep my name ungor'd. But till that time, 
I do receive your offer' d love like love. 
And will not wrong it. 

Hamlet, I embrace it freely, 240 

And will this brother's wager frankly play. — 
Give us the foils. — Come on. 

Laertes, Come, one for me. 

Hamlet, I '11 be your foil, Laertes ; in mine ignorance 
Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night, 245 

Stick fiery off indeed. 

Laertes, You mock me, sir. 

Hamlet, No, by this hand. 



[Clark and Wright] ? Henry V., II. iv. 34 ; AWs Well, I. ii. 40. — 228. 
The words " Sir, in this audience," are not in the quartos. Needed ? — 
232. brother. The folios have another, which Rowe followed : wisely ? 

— in nature, etc. A piece of satire on fantastical honor [Steevens] ? 
The duellists' code still refers such questions to the ''seconds," or to 
supposed experts? Clarke thinks that Laertes here acts " the artificial 
and not the true gentleman." Is it so? — 237. precedent, etc. = which 
justify me in making peace [Clark and Wright] ? — 238. ungored = un- 
hurt ? — Metaphor from bull-baiting? The folios have tingorc/d, which 
Rowe follows. — A. S. gar, Icel. geirr, a spear. —243. f oil = contrast? 
Set-off (as in the setting of a gem) ? like a foil in which a diamond is set 
to increase its lightness [Moberly] ? — Ijat.folmm, Old Fv.fueille, a leaf. 

— 245. Stick fiery off = stand in brilliant relief ? Says Keightly, "Stick 



204 HAMLET. [act V. 

King. Give them the foils, young Osric. — Cousin Hamlet, 
You know the wager? 

Hamltt. Very well, my lord ; 

Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side. 

King, I do not fear it ; I have seen you both : 250 

But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds. 

Laertes, This is too heavy, let me see another. 

Hamlet, This likes me well. — These foils have all a 
length? 254 

Osric, Ay, my good lord. \_Tliey lyrepare to play. 

King, Set me the stoups of wine upon that table. — 
If Hamlet give the first or second hit, •. 

Or quit in answer of the third exchange, 
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire : 
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath ; 
And in the cup an union shall he throw, 260 

Eicher than that which four successive kmgs 
In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups ; 
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak. 
The trumpet to the cannoneer without. 

The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth, 265 

' Now the king drinks to Hamlet ! ' — Come, begin ; — 
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye. 



ojf then meant set off, show off, display." —247. cousin. I. ii. 64. — 249. 
odds = greater value (six horses against six rapiers, etc.) [Jennens] ? 
Bitson computes the values as about twenty to one. Moberly interprets, 
*' Your grace has taken care that points shall be given me ; but, for all 
that, I fear I shall be the weaker." Johnson, who is thinking of the 
three odd hits, suspects that Shakespeare has blundered. — 251. is bet- 
ter'd = is improved (by French practice) [Heath] ? is perfected in his 
art [Schmidt] ? stauds higher in estimation [Caldecott] ? Jennens says, 
" Since the wager he gains if he should win, is better that what we shall 
gain if he loses, therefore we have odds ; i.e., we are not to make as 
many hits as Laertes." — Is odds here the same as in line 249? — The 
quartos read better. Better ? — 253. likes. II. ii. 80. — 255. stoups. 
V. i. 59. Same as mips, line 262?— 257. quit = pay off (Laertes) in 
meeting him at the third encounter [Clark and Wright] ? requite, or 
retaliate [Hudson] ? — V. ii. 68. — 258. ordnance = artillery ? — The old 
spelling was ordinance, which is found in folio \. The original meaning 
Was bore or size of the cannon. Skeat ; who quotes Cotgrave, " or don- 
nance, bulk, size, or bore." — 260. union = " a fair, great, orient pearl." 
Florio's Ital. Dictionary, 1.598. " Our dainties and delicates liave devised 
this name for them, and call them unions ; as a man would say, singu- 
lar, and by themselves alone." Holland's translation oi Pliny. Pliny 
tells of Cleopatra's dissolving a pearl in vinegar, and drinking it off to 
win a bet of Anton3^ — " Pearls were supposed to possess an exhilarat- 
ing quality." — 263. kettle = kettle-drum? I. iv. 11. — Lat. catilluSf 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 205 

Hamlet, Come on, sir. 

Laertes, Come, my lord. \_They play, 

Hamlet, One. 

Laertes, No. 

Hamlet, Judgment. 

Osric, A hit, a very palpable hit. 

Laertes, Well ; again. 

King, Stay ; give me drink. — Hamlet, this pearl is thine ; 
Here 's to thy health. — 

\_Trumpets sounds and cannon shot off within. 
Give him the cup. 271 

Hamlet, I '11 play this bout first ; set it by awhile. — 
Come. \_They play.~\ Another hit ; what say you? 

Laertes, A touch, a touch, I do confess. 

King, Our son shall win. 

Queen, He 's fat and scant of breath. — 

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows ; 
The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. 

Hamlet, Good madam, — 

King. Gertrude, do not drink. 

Queen, I will, my lord ; I pray you, pardon me. 

King, [_Aside'] It is the poison'd cup ; it is too late. 280 

Hamlet, I dare not drink yet, madam ; by and by. 

Queen, Come, let me wipe thy face. 

Laertes, My lord, I '11 hit him now. 

smaH bowl ; catimis, deep bowl. — 270. this pearl, etc. Here the king 
drops the poison in ? — 272. bout. Danish huc/t, sl bend, turn ; huc/nef 
to bend ; akin to boiu ; A. S. hucjan, to bow. — 274. A touch, etc. This 
line omitted in the quartos. Is it needed ? injurious to the measure 
[Keightley] ? — 275. fat, etc> Shakespeare's friend and fellow-player, 
Richard Burbadge, on whose tombstone w^as inscribed, *' Exit Bur- 
badge,*' was the original Hamlet ; and to suit his corpulency, it is said, 
this line was inserted. In an elegy on him we read, 

*' No more young Hamlet, though but scant of breath, 
Shall cry ' Revenge ! ' for his dear father's death." 

— Was Hamlet ''the glass of fashion and the mould of form"? — 
PleJnve, in 1862, proposed to read hot, which Hudson adopts, referring to 
IV. vii. 156. Judicious change ? — See Fumess. — 276. napkin = hand- 
kerchief, in Shakespeare. — Originally a small cloth at table. Lat. 
mappa, a cloth ; Fr. nappe. The -kin, of course, is diminutive suffix. — 
277. carouses = drinks a health [Rolfe] ? — From Ger. c/araiis, right out, 
specially used of emptying a bumper to any one's health. So carouse 
was originally an adverb signifying "completely," or "all out," *'to 
the bottom " ? used of drinking. Skeat. — 277. Good madam = many 
thanks, madam [Moberly] ? — Hudson thinks Hamlet suspects the con- 
tents of that cup, and so intimates in line 281. Probable ? — 281. dare 



206 HAMLET, [act V. 

King, I do not think 't. 

Laertes, \_Aside'] And yet 't is almost 'gainst my con- 
science. 

Hamlet, Come, for the third, Laertes. You but dally ; 
I pray you, pass with your best violence ; 
I am afeard you make a wanton of me. 

Laertes, Say you so? come on. {_They play. 

Osric, Nothing, neither way. 289 

Laertes, Have at you now ! 

[Laertes wounds Hamlet ; then^ m scuffling,^ they 
change rapiers^ and Hamlet ivounds Laertes. 

King, Part them ; they are incensVL 

Hamlet, Nay, come, again. [The Queen falls, 

Osric, Look to the queen there, ho ! 

Horatio, They bleed on both sides. — How is it, my lord? 

Osric, How is 't, Laertes? 

Laertes, Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric ; 
I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. 

Hamlet, How does the queen ? 

King, She swoons to see them bleed. 

Queen, No, no, the drink, the drink, — O my dear Ham- 
let, — 

The drink, the drink ! — I am poison'd. [Dies, 

Hamlet, O villany ! — Ho 1 let the door be lock'd ! 
Treachery 1 Seek it out ! 30o 

not. Why ? — by and by. III. iii. 358. — 284. And yet, etc. Clarke, 
quoted by Rolfe, neatly points out this relenting as a redeeming touch 
in the character of Laertes, as well as a connecting link between his 
original malice and his final confession. — 286. pass. IV. vii. 137. — 
287. afeard. '' Shakespeare uses afeard thirty-two times, and afraid 
forty-four times." Rolfe. — make a wanton of me = trifle with me 
as if you were playing with a child [Hitson] ? play the garne into my 
hands [Hudson] ? play the fool with me [Clark and Wright] ?—" This 
is a quiet but very significant stroke of delineation. Laertes is not 
playing his best, and it is his conscience [sic] of what is at the point of 
his foil that keeps him from doing so" [Hudson]? — 290. Stage direc- 
tion. " Hamlet, on being unexpectedly pierced, is instantly stung into 
fiery action." Htcdson. Tieck thinks that the king lets Osric or some 
other courtier, in the pause between two rounds, change the rapiers, 
desiring that Laertes as well as Hamlet should perish! Probable? — 
See Finmess. — 291. ho. "Mr. Staunton supposes this to be a signal 
to the combatants to stop." Clark and Wright. — 294. w^oodeoek. 
*' Trained to decoy other birds, it sometimes, while strutting incau- 
tiously too near, becomes itself entangled." See I. iii. 115. — 296. How 
does = what ails V — " Perhaps the phrase * how do you do ' is a transla- 
tion of Old French * comment lefaites vos ? ' See Wedgivood.*' Skeat. — 
swoons. The quartos and two folios have sounds ,- other folios, swounds, 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 207 

Laertes, It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain ; 
No medicine in the world can do thee good, 
In thee there is not half an hour of life : 
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, 
Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice 305 

Hath turned itself on me ; lo, here I lie, 
Never to rise again. Thy mother 's poison 'd ; 
I can no more, — the king — the king 's to blame. 

Hamlet, The point envenom'd too ! — 
Then, venom, to thy work ! \_Stahs the King. 

All, Treason ! treason ! 311 

King, O, yet defend me, friends ; I am but hurt. 

Hamlet, Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, 
Drink off this potion ! Is thy union here ? 
Follow my mother ! [King dies, 

Laertes, He is justly serv'd ; 

It is a poison tempered b}^ himself. — 
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet ; 
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee, 
Nor thine on me ! \_Dies. 

Hamlet, Heaven make thee free of it ! I follow thee. — 
I am dead, Horatio. — Wretched queen, adieu ! — 321 

You that look pale and tremble at this chance, 
That are but mutes or audience to this act. 
Had I but time — as this fell sergeant, death. 
Is strict in his arrest — O, I could tell you — 325 

a pet word with Mrs. Browning. Rolfe. — A. S. swdgan, to move or 
sweep along noisily, to sough, to sigh ; originally used especially of the 
wind." Skeat, — 'SOo. unbated, IV. vii. 137. — practice. IV. vii. 66, 
137. —309. too = besides being "unbated" ? The usual punctuation 
makes it read, "The point envenom'd too!" As good? — 314. thy 
union. See line 270. — Several quartos read onyx or onixe. Allowable? 

— 316. temper'd = mixed, compounded? See Exodus xxix. 2. — Lat. 
temperdre, to apportion, moderate, regulate, qualify ; allied to temperi 
or tempori, adv., seasonably, and to tempus, fit season, time. Skeat. — 
319, Dies. Why does Laertes die first ? of poison ? of mortal Avound ? 

— 323. mutes = dumb personages who take part in a play [Clark and 
Wright] ? — 324. as. An ellipsis here ? "Had I but time, which I have 
not, as," etc. Abbott, 110. IV. iii. 58. — sergeant. Usually explained 
as a sheriff's officer ; more likely here a sergeant-at-arms, like the high 
executive officer of a parliamentary body or of the high court of chan- 
cery ? As in Henry VIII. , I. i. 198. — Lat. servire, to serve ; servientem, 
serving, one who serves. By regular and usual changes from Latin to 
French, servientem, servjentem, serjentem, serjent, sergent ; whence Eng- 
lish sergeant. Bracket. — "And Death, drad serjant of th' eternal 
Judge." Silvester's Du Bartas. Silvester is the earlier writer, but 
Shakespeare's substitution of " fell " for " dread " shows a master hand. 



208 HAMLET, [act V. 

But let it be. — Horatio, I am dead ; 

Thou livest ; report me and my cause aright 

To the unsatisfied. 

Horatio, Never believe it ; 

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane : 
Here 's yet some liquor left. 

Hamlet, As thou 'rt a man, 330 

Give me the cup : let go ; by heaven, I '11 have 't. — 

God ! — Horatio, what a wounded name. 

Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me ! 
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart. 
Absent thee from felicity awhile, 335 

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain. 
To tell my story. — [March afar off, and shot within. 

What warlike noise is this ? 

Osric, Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Po- 
land, 
To the ambassadors of England gives 
This warlike volley. 

Hamlet. O, I die, Horatio ; 340 

The potent poison quite o'er-crows my sphlt. 

1 cannot live to hear the news from England ; 
But I do prophesy the election lights 

On Fortinbras : he has my dying voice ; 

So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less, 345 

Which have solicited — the rest is silence. [Dies. 



Hunter.— S29. antique. Accent as in II. ii. 455. — Roman. Horatio 
was a scholar (I. i. 42), and his " mind was cast In the bright monld 
of ages past"? I. i. 112-120. Is he thinking of Brutns ? of Cato? — 
332. The folios have, '' Oh good Horatio," which many prefer. — 333. 
live. The quartos have I leave, which, Stratmann says, is more natural. 
White changes live to leave, and makes things the subject of shall leave. 
In the first folio, " Things standing thus unknown," is enclosed in marks 
of parenthesis. — 341. o'er-crows = triumphs over, as a cock over his 
beaten antagonist [Clark and Wright] ? overcomes, subdues [Hudson] ? 
" Tschischwitz adopts over-aioes, ' as the only word which affords a suit- 
able sense.' " Furness. — Shakespeare's contemporaries, Chapman, 
Nash, and Edmund Spenser, similarly use overcrow. — 345. occurrents 
= occurrences, incidents, circumstances, events. 1 Kinc/s v. 4. — Lat. 
occurrere, to run to meet, meet, occur ; oh, over against, currere, to 
run. —345. more = greater? — 346. solicited = urged, prompted, ex- 
cited ? brouglit on the event [Warburton] ? induced me to act as I have 
done [Moberly] ? moved me to recommend Fortinbras as_ successor to 
the throne [Lettsom] ? — Old Lat. sollus, whole, entire ; ciere, to shake, 
excite, cite; citus, aroused; sollicitus, wholly agitated, aroused, anxious; 
sollicitare, excite, incite, urge. — "The sentence is left imperfect." 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 209 

Horatio. Now cracks a noble heart. — Good night, sweet 
prince, 
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest ! 
Why does the drum come hither? \_Marcli witJiin. 

Enter Fortinbras, the English Ambassadors, and other's. 

Fortinbras. Where is this sight? 

Horatio. What is it ye would see? 

If aught of woe or wonder, cease j^our search. 351 

Fortinbras. This quarry cries on havoc. — O proud death, 
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell. 
That thou so many princes at a shot 
So bloodily hast struck ? 

1 Ambassador. The sight is dismal ; 355 

And our affairs from England come too late : 
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing, 
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd, 
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. 
Where should we have our thanks ? 

Horatio. Not from his mouth. 

Had it the ability of life to thank you r 36i 

He never gave commandment for their death. 
But since, so jump upon this bloody question. 
You from the Polack wars, and you from England, 
Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies 365 

High on a stage be placed to the view ; 
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world 
How these things came about : so shall you hear 
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts. 

Mason. — 347. cracks = breaks, as often in Shakespeare. — 352. quarry. 
A general term for the inwards of a slain animal, and so called from 
containing the heart. Lat. cor, heart. A heap of slaughtered game. 
Skeat, — cries on havoc = proclaims an indiscriminate slaughter 
[White] ? urges to merciless slaughter [Clark and AYright] ? cries out 
against indiscriminate slaughter [Hudson] ? has been wastefully slain 
[Gervinus, who thinks Hamlet the unpractised remiss sportsman]? In 
OtheUo,Y. i. 48, " cries on murder," appears to mean *' cries out murder; " 
and so Rolfe, following Schmidt, prefers to explain it here. To " cry 
havoc" (the signal that no quarter was to be given), seems altogether 
different from to " cry on havoc." See Julius Ccesar, III. i. 274. Proba- 
bly from A. S. hafoc, hawk ; from which probably comes the Welsh 
hafog, destruction, havoc. Skeat. — 353. toward. I. i. 77. — eternal. 
II. ii. 476 ; I. v. 21. — 360. his mouth. Theobald referred this to Ham- 
let ! —363. jump. I. i. 65. — 369. carnal = sanguinary, cruel, or inhu- 
man, referring to the murder of Hamlet's father [Hudson] ? sensual 



210 HAMLET. [act V. 

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, 370 

Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause, 

And, in this upshot, purposes mistook 

Fall'n on the inventors' heads. All this can I 

Truly deliver. 

Fortinbras. Let us haste to hear it, 375 

And call the noblest to the audience. 
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune ; 
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom. 
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me. 

Horatio, Of that I shall have also cause to speak. 
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more ; 330 

But let this same be presently perform' d. 
Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance, 
On plots and errors, happen. 

Fortinhras. Let four captains 

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage ; 385 

For he was likely, had he been put on. 
To have prov'd most royally : and, for his passage, 



[Schmidt]? — 370. accidental, as that of Polonius? — 371. put on. 
IV. vii. 130. — cunning. That of Hamlet in forging the commission ? 

— forced. The quartos have/o?' no, and Jennens follows that reading. 
May it be right? — Were the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern 
forced on Hamlet? — 372. upshot = conclusion, final issue? — "In 
archery, the 'upshot' was the final shot, which decided the match." 
Clark and Wright. — Webster says the word is "from up and shot or 
scot, share, reckoning. Compare the phrase, to cast up an account.'^ — 
In Tivelfth Night, IV. ii. 69, Sir Toby says, ''I cannot pursue with any 
safety this sport to the upshot." — mistook. Abbott, 343. — 373. invent- 
ors'." Who are they? — 371. deliver. I. ii. 193. — 377. rights of 
memory = remembered rights [Malone, etc]? rights founded in pre- 
scription or the order of inheritance [Hudson] ? See of a doubt, I. iv. 
37. — 380. his = Hamlet's? — draTV on more = be seconded by others 
[Theobald, etc.] ? induce others to vote the same way [Hudson] ? — 
383. — on = in consequence of ? Abbott, 180. four captains, etc. "At 
that time the accustomed mode of burial of a soldier of rank." Hunter. 

— 385. put on = put to the proof, tried [Caldecott] ? — 386. passage .= 
departure, death, as in III. iii. 86 above [Rolfe] ? So in Paradise Lost, 
XI. 365, 366, "endure Thy mortal passage when it comes." — Do you 
agree with the following comments by Moberly ? — " Hamlet has gained 
the haven for which he longed so often ; yet without bringing guilt on 
himself by his death ; no fear that his sleep should have bad dreams in it 
nov:. Those whom he loved, his mother, Laertes, Ophelia, have all died 
guiltless or forgiven. Late, and under the strong compulsion of ajv 
proaching death, he has done, and well done, the inevitable task from 
which his gentle nature shrank. Why, then, any farther thought, in 
the awful presence of death, of crimes, conspiracies, vengeance? Think 
that he has been slain in battle, like his sea-king forefathers ; and let 
the booming cannon be his mourners." 



SCENE II.] HAMLET. 211 

The soldiers' music and the rites of war 

Speak loudly for him, — 

Take up the bodies. — Such a sight as this 

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. — 390 

Go, bid the soldiers shoot. 

\_A dead march. Exeunt^ hearing off the dead bodies; 
after which a peal of ordnance is shot off. 



APPENDIX. 



HOW TO STUDY EINTGLISH LITERATURE. 

[From George H. Martin, Agent of the Mass, Board of Education.] 

What is wanted is a carefully graded course, which, beginning with 
the poetry of action, should lead the student step by step to the senti- 
mental and the reflective, all in their simplest forms, thence through 
the more elaborate narrative to the epic and the dramatic. The aim 
here is not to teach authors or works, but poetry; and the works are 
selected for their value as illust-rations, without reference to their 
authors. A parallel course in the study of prose should be pursued 
with the same end. Then, having learned what poetry is and what 
prose is, what they contain and how to find their contents, the pupils 
would be prepared to take up the study of individual authors. Hav- 
ing studied the authors, the final step would be to study the history of 
the literature, in which the relation of the authors to each other and 
to their times would appear. This would place the study of literature 
on a scientific basis, — first elementary ideas, then individual wholes, 
then relations and classifications. 

[From an address by L, R, JVilUston, A. 31. , Supervisor of Public 

ScJiools, Boston.] 

How shall the teacher bring his pupils best to see and feel the 
thoughts of his author as he saw and felt them? 

First, Read the work carefully with them. Let the teacher read, 
and question as be reads. Let him often ask for paraphrases, and 
draw out in every way the thought of his class, making sure that all is 
clear. Let every impression have a corresponding expression, which 
shall re-act, and deepen the impression. 

Second, When a part of the work, an act, book, or canto, has been 
carefully read, assign a theme for a written essay. Let the class tell 
what the poet has attempted, how he has succeeded, what are the im- 
pressions made by the characters, scenes, and descriptions. 

Let the teacher himself write upon the themes assigned to his class, 
and thus give them a model of what he wishes them to do. 

Third, When the book or play has been carefully read and studied 
in this way in all its parts, let it be re-read in a larger and freer way 
than before. Let the pupils read, and the teacher watch to see if the 
thought is clearly apprehended by the pupil. Let the fine passages be 

213 



214 APPENDIX, 

read again and again by different members of the class, and their ren- 
dering be criticised by class and teacher. If the work read be a play, 
let the parts be taken by different members of the class. Let all the 
parts of the work now be studied in their relation to each other and to 
the whole. Essays now should be wTitten upon subjects suggested by 
this more comprehensive study of the work, — a comparison of charac- 
ters, noteworthy scenes and their bearing upon the whole, the style of 
the author, and his skill in description, dramatic presentation, or 
invention. 

If it is objected that it is impossible for a teacher with a large class 
to revise and correct such a mass of written w^ork, I answer that it is 
not to be expected that all the w^ritten work of a class should be read 
and carefully corrected by the teacher. Let him criticise, or rather 
call upon his class to do so, what is noticeably wrong in the essays as 
they are read. In these exercises, let the attention be directed chiefly 
to the thought. Let thought govern and direct expression. From time 
to time, according to the number of his class and the teacher's ability, 
let him assign essays to be carefully written and handed in for his own 
careful reading and criticism. But let there be an abundance of free 
and rapid writing, that composition, that is, thought put into wTiting, 
may become easy and natural. The object of the writing is not to 
teach the correct use of English, so much as to make clear thinkers 
and to fix and deepen impressions. 

Fourth^ With the careful reading and study of some book in school, 
I think it important that there should go the reading of some other 
book out of school. Flowers are not all to be picked and analyzed, 
but are to be enjoyed as they are seen by ^^him who runs." *' Some 
books are to be tasted, others to be sw^allow^ed, some few to be chew^ed 
and digested." Let the pupil have his exercise in merely *' tasting" 
books, wath enjoyment as the chief end. Let the teacher be his guide, 
and merely ask him to report what he finds. In other words, let him 
read, as we all read when we read for pleasure, — with his mind at 
ease and open to every charm that genius can present. Let the 
teacher make the book the subject of conversation with his class, and 
draw their attention by his questions to the chief points which make 
it noteworthy. 

To what extent shall the memory be called upon in the study of 
Englisli literature ? Not, I think, to commit long passages, whole 
books, and cantos of poems. Let the pupil absorb as much as possi- 
ble in frequent reading and in study. Now and then, let a few^ strik- 
ing lines, that have been learned by heart rather than committed to 
memory, be recited. Do not make a disagreeable task of any such 
exercise. For, that our pupils may receive the highest and best influ- 
ence from this study of English literature, it is essential that they love 
it, and retain only pleasant memories of the hours spent at school in 
the society of its best authors. 

[From J". If. Biichan, Inspector of High Schools, Ontario, Canada; 
quoted in BlaisdelVs " Outline Studies in English Classics,^ a 
work that should be in the hands of every teacher of our literature,'] 

With all classes of pupils alike, the main thing to be aimed at by 
the teacher is to lead them clearly and fully to understand the mean- 



APPENDIX. 215 

ing of the author they are reading, and to appreciate the beauty, tlie 
nobleness, tlie justness, or tlie sublimity of his thoughts and language. 
Parsing, the analysis of sentences, the derivation of words, the expla- 
nation of allusions, the scansion of verse, the pointing-out of figures 
of speech, the hundred and one minor matters on which the teacher 
may easily dissipate the attention of the pupil, should be strictly sub- 
ordinated to this great aim. ... It is essential that the mind of the 
reader should be put en rapport with that of the writer. There is 
something in the influence of a great soul upon another, Avhich defies 
analysis. Xo analysis of a poem, however subtle, can produce the 
same effect upon the mind and heart as the reading of the poem itself. 
Though the works of Shakespeare and Milton and our other great 
writers were not intended by their authors to serve as text-books for 
future generations, yet it is unquestionably the case that a large amount 
of information may be imparted, and a very valuable training given, if 
we deal with them as we deal with Homer and Horace in our best 
schools. Parsing, grammatical analysis, the derivation of words, pros- 
ody, composition, the history of the language, and to a certain extent 
the history of the race, may be both more pleasantly and more profit- 
ably taught in this than in any other way. It is advisable for these 
reasons, also, that the study of these subjects should be conjoined 
with that of the English literature. Xot only may time be thus econ- 
omized, but the difficulty of fixing the attention of flighty and inap- 
preciative pupils may more easily be overcome. 

[From F. G. Fleaifs " Guide to Chaucer and Spenser, ^^'\ 

No doubtful critical point should ever be set before the student as 
ascertained. One great advantage of these studies is the acquirement 
of a power of forming a judgment in cases of conflicting evidence. 
Give the student the evidence; state your own opinion, if you like, 
but let him judge for himself. 

No extracts or incomplete works should be used. The capability of 
appreciating a whole work, as a whole, is one of the principal aims in 
aesthetic culture. 

It is better to read thoroughly one simple play or poem than to know 
details about all the dramatists and poets. The former trains the 
brain to judge of other plays or poems: the latter only loads the mem- 
ory with details that can at any time be found, when required, in books 
of reference. 

For these studies to completely succeed, they must be as thorough 
as our classical studies used to be. No difficult point in syntax, pros- 
ody, accidence, or pronunciation; no variation in manners or cus- 
toms; no historical or geographical allusion. — must be passed over 
without explanation. This training in exactness will not interfere 
with, but aid, the higher aims of literary training. 

[From Bei\ Henry N, Sudson, Shakespearian Editor.'] 

I have never had and never will have any thing but simple exercises ; 
the pupils reading the author under the teacher's direction, correction, 
and explanation ; the teacher not even requiring, though usually ad- 
vising, them to read over the matter in advance. Thus it is a joint 



216 APPENDIX, 

communing of teacher and pupils with the author for the time being; 
just that, and nothing more. Nor, assuredly, can such communion, 
in so far as it is genial and free, be without substantial and lasting 
good, — far better, indeed, than any possible cramming of mouth and 
memory for recitation. The one thing needful here is, that the pupils 
rightly understand and feel what they read • this secured, all the rest 
will take care of itself. 

[From Br, Johnson, 1765.] 

Let him that is yet unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare, 
and who desires to feel the greatest pleasure that the drama can give, 
read every play, from the first scene to the last, with utter negligence 
of all his commentators. When his fancy is once on the wing, let it 
not stoop at correction or explanation. Let him read on through 
brightness and obscurity, through integrity and corruption ; let him 
preserve his comprehension of the dialogue, and his interest in the 
fable. And when the pleasures of novelty have ceased, let him attempt 
exactness, and read the commentators. 

[From Professor Brainerd Kellogg,] 

The student ought, first of all, to read the play as a pleasure; then 
to read over again, with his mind upon the characters and the plot; 
and, lastly, to read it for the meanings, grammar, etc. 

1. The Plot and Story of the Play. 

(a) The general plot; 
(6) The special incidents. 

2. The Characters : Ability to give a connected account of all that 

is done and most of what is said by each character in the play. 

3. The Influence and Interplay of the Characters upon each 

other. 

(a) Relation of A to B, and of B to A; 

(b) Relation of A to C and D. 

4. Complete Possession of the Language. 

(a) Meanings of words; 

(b) Use of old words, or of words in an old meaning; 

(c) Grammar; 

(d) Ability to quote lines to illustrate a grammatical point. 

5. Power to Reproduce, or Quote. 

(a) What was said by A or B on a particular occasion; 

(b) What was said by A in reply to B; 

(c) What argument was used by C at a particular juncture; 

(d) To quote a line in instance of an idiom or of a peculiar 

meaning. 

6. Poorer to Locate. 

(a) To attribute a line or statement to a certain person on a 

certain occasion; 

(b) To cap a line; 

(c) To fill in the right word or epithet. 



APPENDIX. 217 

[From BlaisdelVs " Outlines for the study of English Classics,^^] 

The following suinmary of points to be exacted . . . may prove 
useful : — 

I. — Points relative to substance. 

1. A general knowledge of the purport of the passages, and 

line of argument pursued. 

2. An exact paraphrase of parts of the whole, producing ex- 

actly and at length the author's meaning. 

3. The force and character of epithets. 

4. The meaning of similes, and expansions of metaphors. 

5. The exact meaning of individual words. 

II. — Points with regard to form. 

1. General grammar rules ; if necessary, peculiarities of Eng- 

lish grammar. 

2. Derivations: (1) General laws and principles of derivations, 

including a knowledge of affixes and suffixes, (2) In- 
teresting historical derivation of particular words. 

III. — The knowledge of all allusions. 

IV. — A knowledge of such parallel passages and illustrations 

as the teacher has supplied. 



From all that has been quoted from the foregoing authorities, it 
may justly be inferred that somehow or other the pupil must be 
made to feel an interest in the author, to admire w^ha't is admirable 
in the composition, and really to enjoy its study. Secure this, 
and all else will follow as a matter of course : fail in this, and the 
time is wasted. 

The following suggestions,^ or some of them, may be helpful in 
daily class-work : — 

1. At the beginning of the exercise, or as often as need be, require 

a statement of — 

(rt) The main object of the author in the whole poem, ora- 
tion, play, or other production of which to-day's lesson is a 
part. 

(6) The object of the author in this particular canto, chap- 
ter, act, or other division of the main work. 

2. Read or recite from memory (or have the pupils do it) the finest 

part or parts of the last lesson. The elocutionary talent of 
the class should be utilized here, so that the author may ap- 
pear at his best. 

3. Require at times (often enough to keep the whole fresh in mem- 

ory) a resume of the '^argument," story, or succession of 
topics, up to the present lesson. 

1 See Suggestions to Teachers, in Sprague's edition of the First Two Books of 
Paradise Lost and Lycidas, 



218 AFP END IX, 

4. Have the student read aloud the sentence, paragraph, or lines, 

now (or previously) assigned. The appointed portion should 
have some unity. 

5. Let the student interpret exactly the meaning by substituting 

his own words ; explain peculiarities. This paraphrase should 
often be in ivritlng. 

6. Let him state the immediate object of the author in these lines. 

Is this object relevant ? important ? appropriate in this place ? 

7. Let him point out the ingredients (particular thoughts) that 

make up the passage. Are they in good taste? just? natu- 
ral ? well arranged ? 

8. Let him point out other merits or defects, — any thing note- 

worthy as regards nobleness of principle or sentiment, grace, 
delicacy, beauty, rhythm, sublimity, wit, wisdom, humor, na- 
ivete', kindliness, pathos, energy, concentrated truth, logical 
force, originality; give allusions, kindred passages, principles 
illustrated, etc. 

SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPERS. 
\_From the English Civil Sermce Commission Papers.] 

A (First Act), 

1. Give a brief but connected account of the incidents in the First Act. 

2. What state of feeling seems to exist in Hamlet's mind in relation to 
the King, and to the Queen ? Quote lines in justification of your view. 

3. State by whom, to whom, and on what occasions, the following 
lines were uttered : — 

(a) What art thou that usurp' st this time of night? 

{]}) Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. 

(c) An understanding simple and unschooled. 

(c?) Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven. 

(e) More honored in the breach than the observance. 

4. Quote the lines which precede or which follow the above. 

5. Explain fully and annotate the words in Italics. 

6. Explain fully the following words and phrases: {a) the sensible and 
true avouch; {b) ro7nage ; {c) extravagant ; {d) lose your voice ; {e) defeated; 
{/) slow leave ; (g) discourse of reason ; {h) primy nature ; {i) addition; (j) 
bound to hear; (k) unhouseled ; (I) without more circumstance. 

7. Give some examples of the peculiarities of Shakespeare's grammar. 

B (Second Act). 

1. What new personages are introduced in the Second Act, and what 
are their respective functions in the play ? 

2. Describe shortly Hamlet's interview with the players. 

3. State in your own words the sum of Hamlet's reflections at the end 
of this Act. 

4. State by whom, of whom, and on what occasions, the following 
lines were said: — 

(a) With icijidlaces, and with assays of bias. 

(b) Ungarter'd and down-gyved to his ankle. 

(c) To show us so much gentry and good-will. 
{d) If I had play'd the desk or table-book. 



APPENDIX. 219 

(e) How express and admirable ! 
(/) I know a hawk from a hernsaw. 

5. Annotate the words in Italics. 

6. Explain fully the following words and phrases: {a) keep; {h) fetch 
of loarrani ; (c) shatter all his bulk ; (d) home in hand ; (e) round iciih him ; 
{f) lungs tickle o' the sere; (g) eyases ; (h) region; (i) the general ear; (j) 
organ. 

7. Quote the lines in which the above words and phrases occur. 

8. Give some examples of Shakespeare's use of the dative, 

C (Third Act). 

1. Describe the character of Ophelia, and contrast her with the Queen. 

2. Give the substance of the King's soliloquy in scene third. 

0. Quote lines from this and from the first Act to show the opinion 
which Hamlet held of his father and of his uncle. 

4. State by whom, of whom, and on what occasions, the following 
lines were said: — 

(a) Who would fardels bear, 

To grunt and sweat under a weary life? 
(6) And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose. 
(c) O'erstep not the modesty of nature. 
{d) Confederate season, else no creature seeing, 
(e) Up, sword ! and know thou a more horrid hent! 
(/) Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works. 

5. Annotate fully the words in Italics. 

6. Give some instances (a) of Shakespeare's use of a verb as a noun; 
and (b) of his employment of prolepsis. 

7. Explain fully the following words and phrases: (a) affront; (b) the 
rub; (c) in the ear; (d) by and by; (e) the cease of majesty; (/) broad- 
bloivn ; (g) mope ; (h) capable of; (i) conclusions. 

D (Fourth Act). 

1. Give a short but connected account of the incidents in this Act. 

2. Give the substance of Hamlet's soliloquy in the fourth scene. 

3. State the substance of the conversation of the King with Laertes in 
the seventh scene. 

4. State by whom, of whom or what, and on what occasions, the fol- 
lowing lines were said : — 

(a) As level as the cannon to his blank, 
lb) Your fat king is but variable service. 

(c) Thinking too pirecisely on the event. 

(d) The ocean, overpeering of his list. 

(e) They have' dealt with me like thieves of mercy. 
(/) For goodness, growing to a plurisy. 

5. Explain fully the words in Italics. 

6. Explain the following words and phrases: {a) the main ; (b) makes 
mouths; (c) of large discourse; (d) not continent enough; (e) a riotous 
head; (/) a document in madness; (g) much unsineived ; (h) uncharge; (i) 
passages^ of p)roof ; (j) mortal. 

7. Quote examples {a) of Shakespeare's use of the Northern plural; 
and (6) of such phrases as his means of death. 

E (Fifth Act). 

1. What are the events outside and also within the play that are 
gradually maturing the catastrophe; and what change seems to come 
over Hamlet's own mind ? 



220 APPENDIX, 

2. Quote passages from Polonius's and from Osric's speeches to illus- 
trate the euphuism of the time. 

3. Quote the passage which shows that Hamlet had a presentiment of 
what was coming. 

4. State by whom, of whom or what, and on what occasions, the fol- 
lowing lines were uttered : — 

(a) Tell me that, and unyoke. 

(6) The length and breadth of a pair of indentures, 
(c) This grave shall have a living monument. 
{d) With, ho ! such hugs and goblins in my life. 
(e) And in the cup an union shall he throw. 

[Prize Examination in Hamlet. Hollins Institute, Virginia, 

May, 1881. Questions by Horace Howard Furness, Esq., of Phila- 
delphia. Those in brackets ivere added by Prof. Wm. Taylor Thorn.] 

Historical and Bibliographical. 

1. On what story is Shakespeare's tragedy of Hamlet founded ? 

2. Did Shakespeare get it from the Danish historian ? 

3. What is the date of the earliest edition of Shakespeare's Hainlet f 

4. What is the date of the second edition? 

5. Is there much difference in bulk between these two editions ? 

6. When was the first edition said to have been acted ? 

7. And probably on what occasion ? 

8. How was the copy of the first edition probably obtained for the 
printer ? 

9. Does Francis Meres mention it ? 

10. What is the theory of the editors of the Clarendon Press edition 
in regard to the quarto of 1603 ? 

11. Is there any difference between the first and second editions on 
the score of Hamlet's madness? 

12. Is there any difference in the names of the characters ? 

13. Is there any contemporaneous play of Hamlet in any other lan- 
guage than English ? 

14. What is the date of the first edition of Shakesx^eare's collected 
works ? 

15. How many years after Shakespeare's death was it published ? 

16. And by whom was it published ? 

Grammatical. 

17. Explain the use of *' sensible," in I. i. 57.1 Give other instances 
of adjectives similarly used in this play ; in Macbeth; in Merchant of 
Venice. 

18. What is the meaning of " still " in I. i. 122 ? Can you recall any 
other instances in this play? any in Macbeth'? in Merchant of Venice? 

19. What was Shakespeare's use of *' thou " and " you " ? Illustrate 
by references to Hamlet. 

20. What ellipsis is there in ''That father lost, lost his, and the sur- 
vivor bound ? " 

21. Can you recall any instances of suffixes appended to nouns for the 
purpose of signifying an agent ? in Macbeth ? in Merchant of Venice? 

22. Can you give any instances of the use of the prefix a before nouns ? 
before participles ? 

1 The references here are to the Clarendon Press editions of the plays. 



APPENDIX. 221 

23. Give instances of Shakespeare's use of double comparatives. 

24. Can you recall any instances where Shakespeare neglects the 
Inflection oi the pronoun v:ho ? in Macbeth? in Merchant of Venice ? 

25. Give some instances of the conversion of one part of speech into 
another. 

26. Give some account of the rise of the use of its. 

27. What is Marsh's rule about the use b}^ Elizabethan writers of s,ith 
and since ? Does the rule hold uniformh^ good in Shakespeare ? 

28. Explain the meaning of the line: " When we have shuffled off this 
mortal coil." What peculiarity in the use of the adjective ? Illustrate 
by examples. 

29. '* The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, and 'gins to pale his 
uneffectiialfLVQ.'^ What is the meaning of uneffectiLal? Give examples 
of adjectives used proleptically. 

Philological. 

30. What is the meaning of, " I'll make a ghost of him that lets me " V 

31. What is the meaning of unhouseVd, disappointed, wianeled? 

32. What is the meaning of windlasses and assays of bias? 

33. Is Shakespeare's use. of the word closet the same as ours ? 

34. What is the meaning of, "The clown shall make those laugh, 
whose lungs are tickle o' the sere " ? 

35. Explain: "I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is 
southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw." 

36. What is the meaning of extravagant ? I. i. 154. 

37. What is the meaning of, '' No fairy takes " ? I. i. 163. 

38. Is Shakespeare's accent of Hyperion (I. ii, 140), correct ? 

39. Explain the meaning of " dearest foe." I. ii. 182. 

40. What is the derivation of '' nickname " ? III. i. 144. 

41. Was a ''jig " any thing more than a dance in Shakespeare's day ? 

42. Explain "black '^and grained S})Ots." III. iv. 90. 

43. What is the meaning of " curb and looo " ? III. iv. 152. 

44. Explain the allusion in '' the owl was a baker's daughter." 

45. What was Shakespeare's opinion of i^oliticians, as inferred from 
his use of the word ? 

46. What is the meaning of " Woo't drink up eisel ? " 

47. Explain: " I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Ter- 
magant. It out-herods Herod." 

48. Explain: ''Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers — if the 
rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me — wdth two provincial roses on 
my razed'^shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, sir ?" 

49. Explain: " The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, 
keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels." 

50. What does Bernardo mean hj calling Horatio and Marcellus " the 
rivals of my Avatch " ? 

51. Explain : " Methought I lay worse than the mutines in the bil- 
boes." 

52. What is Shakespeare's use of '*' ecstasy " ? 

53. What is the meaning of eager, in " like eager droppings into milk," 
and in '' a nipping and an eager air " ? 

54. Explain: "They can well on horseback." 

55. What does Hamlet mean by saying to Rosencrantz and Guilden- 
stern, " Let me comply with 3'ou in this garb ? " 

[56.] Explain: " To split the ears of the groundlings.'' 
[57.] Explain: " For, O, For, O, the hobby-horse is forgot," 



222 



APPENDIX. 



^Esthetic. 

58. What is Goethe's view of Hamlet ? 

59. What is Coleridge's ? 

[60 ] What is Taine's and Hudson's ? 
[61.] What is your own ? 

62. How do you account for Hamlet's levity after his interview with 
the Ghost ? 

63. Does Hamlet, or Horatio, say: " The rest is silence " ? 

64. Are the flowers which Ophelia distributes to the King, Queen, and 
others, real or imaginary ? 

65. Was the Queen an accessory to her husband's murder? 
m. Was Hamlet mad ? 

[67.] What is your opinion of Hamlet's treatment of Ophelia in III. i. ? 



SOME TOPICS FOK ESSAYS. 



Revenge in Hamlet. 

Hamlet's Age. 

Hamlet's Treatment of Ophelia. 

Did Hamlet really love Ophelia ? 

Hamlet's Inaction. 

Hamlet's feigning Insanity. 

Was Hamlet really Insane ? 

Hamlet's Forgery of the Commis- 
sion. 

Did Hamlet contrive the Capture 
by the Pirates ? 

Hamlet's Scene with the Clowns. 

Hamlet's Advice to the Players. 

Hamlet's Mouse-trap Pantomime. 

Hamlet's Presentiments. 

Hamlet's Letters. 

Hamlet's Soliloquies. 

Hamlet's Ruling Motives. 

Hamlet's Wit. 

Hamlet's Imagination. 

Shakespeare himself. 

Hamlet's Treatment of Rosen- 
crantz and Guildenstern. 

Hamlet's Treatment of Polonius. 

Hamlet's Treatment of his Mother. 

The Superstition about Ghosts' 
walking. 

Euphuism. 

Moral Lessons taught in Ham- 
let 

Hamlet's Self -disparagement 

Hamlet's Limitations. 

Significance of the Proper Names 
in Hamlet. 

The Time covered by the Play. 

Hamlet's Courtesy. 

Hamlet's Idea of Providence. 



The twelve or sixteen Inserted 
Lines. 

The King's Remorse. 

The Hystorie of Hamblet. 

The German play Brudermord. 

The Poetic Diction in the Play. 

Contrast Ophelia's Madness with 
Hamlet's. 

Essay on Polonius. 

Essay on Ophelia. 

Essay on Rosencrantz and Guild- 
enstern. 

Essay on Osric. 

Essay on Horatio. 

Essay on Laertes. 

Essay on the Queen. 

Essay on the King. 

Essay on Old Hamlet. 

Essay on Fortinbras. 

Essay on some one scene in the 
play. 

What Scenes might be omitted ? 

Relations between Denmark and 
England in the play. 

Elective Monarchy in Denmark. 

The Globe Theatre. 

Rise of English Drama. 

Mystery Plays. 

Miracle Plays. 

Moral Plays. 

Interludes. 

Is Hamlet Shakespeare ? 

Is Hamlet Germany ? 

Proverbs in Hamlet. 

Estimate of Mrs. Jameson's views; 
of Goethe's ; Werder's, Vol- 
taire's, Victor Hugo's, etc. 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES. 



a = at? 85. 

a = one, in a length ? 204. 

a-; prefix, 51. 

about; meaning? 100,127. 

abridgment, 92, 93. 

absolute, 183. 

absurd, 114. 

abuse, 169. 

abuses, 101. 

acquittance, 166. 

act, 43. 

additions title? 53,69. 

admiration, 42, 126. 

adulterate, 60. 

JEneas, 94. 

aery, 88. 

afeard, 206. 

affection, 110. 

afoot, 115. 

again; credibilizing effect ? 

24. 
against, 96, 137. 
alarm, 141. 
Alexander, 185. 
all we = we all, 80. 
allowance, 112. 
'a-mercy, 81. 
amazement, 126, 141. 
ambition, 131. 
amble, 108. 
amiss, 156. 
anchor's cheer, 122. 
an end = on end? 58. 
angle, 195. 
annexment, 130. 
another, 68. 
answer, 143, 146, 199. 
antic, 65. 
antique, 208. 
any the most, 37, 38. 
apart, 147. 
apoplex'd, 138. 
appointment, 165. 
approve, 25, 198. 
appurtenance, 90. 
aptly, 143. 
argal, 177. 
argument, 89, 119, 122, 155. 



arm = prepare ? 130. 

arrant, 63, 108. 

arras, 81. 

art, 77. 

artery, 57. 

article, great, 197. 

artless, 156. 

as = as if? 69,171. 

as = as for? 169. 

as = for so? 152, 174. 

as's, 193. 

aspect, 99. 

assault, general, 68. 

assay, 103, 132. 

assays, 70, 76. 

assigns, 199. 

assistant, 46. 

assurance, 182. 

assure you, 75. 

at = up to? 145, 151, 152. 

at foot, 151. 

at height, 53. 

at point, 42. 

attended, 83, 85. 

attent, 42. 

attribute, 54. 

audience, 50, 207. 

audit, 133. 

aught, 152. 

auspicious, 33. 

avouch, 26. 

a-work, 96. 

ay; dissyl.? 69. 



back, 174. 
bak'd-meats, 41. 
Baptista, 122. 
bare, 106. 
barred, 33. 
barren, 113. 
bated, 192. 
batten, 138. 
battery, 182. 
be^rmay be? 29. 
be (there be), 113. 
beaten, 85. 
beating; tolling? 25. 



beautied, 104. 
beauties, 104. 
beautified, 78. 
beaver, 44. 
beck, 108. 
bedded, 141. 
bedrid, 34. 
behove, 180. 
belike, 119. 
bell, 25. 
be-netted, 192. 
bent, 75, 128. 
berattle, 88. 
beseeched, 103, 
beshrew, 73. 



bestow, 143. 

bestowed, 98, 150. 

beteem, 39. 

betimes, 202. 

bettered, 204. 

bias, 70. 

bilboes, 191. 

bisson, 97. 

bitter = bitterly? 23. 

blank, 148. 

blanks, 122. 

blast = blight? 30. 

blast = burst? 174. 

blastments, 4S. 

blazon, 59. 

blench, 101. 

bloat, 143. 

blood, 46, 51,114,155. 

blown, 109, 133. 

board, 81. 

bodkin, 106. 

bodykins, 98. 

bonnet, 196. 

bore, 166. 

borne in hand, 76. 

botch, 156. 

bourn, 106. 

bouts, 174, 205. 

brainish, 146. 

brave, 86. 

bravery, 195. 

brazed, 136. 

bread, full of, 133. 

breathe, 68, 69. 

223 



224 



INDEX, 



breathing, 200. 

bringing home of, 187. 

broad, 134. 

broad-blown, 133. 

brokers, 52. 

brooch, 171. 

brood (on brood), 110. 

brow of woe, 33. 

bruit, 39. 

bugs, 192. 

bulk, 72. 

bulwark, 136. 

but := only? 85. 

but = than? 29. 

but to know, 198. 

buttons, 48. 

buz, 91. 

buzzers, 159. 

by = as to? 82. 

by = with? 79. 

by and by, 128, 205. 

by'r=:by our? 93. 

by the card, 183. 

by time; meaning? 172. 



Caesar, 116. 

calendar, 197. 

can, 132. 

candied, 114. 

canker, 47. 

canon, 39. 

capable, 141. 

cap-a-pe, 43. 

Capitol, 116. 

carbuncles, 95. 

card, 183, 197. 

carnal, 209. 

carouses, 205. 

carriage, 28. 

carriages (hangers), 199. 

carry it away, 85. 

cart, 119. 

carve (legal term?), 47. 

cast beyond, 73. 

cat will mew, 190. 

cataplasm, 173. 

cautel, 46. 

caviare, 94. 

cease, 130. 

censure, 49, 112, 115. 

centre, 80. 

challenge, 23, 24. 

chameleon's dish, 116. 

change = exchange? 41. 

changeling, 194. 

chanson, 92. 

character, 49, 169. 

charge, 154, 193. 

chariest, 47. 

checking at, 169. 

cheer, 120, 122. 

cherub, 151. 

chief, 49. 

choler, 125. 

chop-fallen, 185, 



chopine, 93. 
chorus, 123. 
chough, 196. 
cicatrice, 152. 
circumstance, 50, 51, 63, 

102, 133. 
climatures, 30. 
close = secret? 73. 
closes = falls in? 69. 
closet, 71, 126. 
clouds (in clouds), 154. 
clouts, 91. 
clowns, 113. 
cockle hat, 156. 
coil, 105. 
cold; noun? 23. 
cold = chaste? 175. 
coldly set, 152. 
colleagued, 34. 
collection, 156. 
columbines, 163. 
comma, 193. 
commend, 34, 66. 
commended, 201. 
comment of thy soul, 115. 
commerce, 107. 
common stages, 88. 
commune, 164. 
commutual, 119. 
compact; accent? 28. 
companies; plu. for sing.? 

74. 
compare with, 198. 
complexion, 196. 
complete; accent? 56. 
comply with, 90, 200. 
compulsative, 29. 
comrade; accent? 49. 
conceit, 99, 141, 157, 199. 
conception, 82. 
concernancy, 198. 
conclusions, 144. 
condolement, 37. 
confederate season, 123. 
confession, 171. 
confine, 32. 
confront, 131. 

confusion (puts on this), 102. 
congregation, 86. 
conjunctive, 167. 
conjures, 188. 
conjuring, 152. 
convoy, 46. 
consequence, 69. 
conscience (perfect), 195. 
considered time, 77. 
consonancy, 85. 
contagion, 174. 
content, 103. 
continent, 155, 197. 
contraction, 137. 
contrary; accent? 121. 
contriving, 173. 
convoy, 46. 
conversation, 114. 
converse, 69. 
coped, 114. 
coted, 87, 



couch, 95, 186. 

count, 195. 

countenance, 148, 

counter, 160. 

counterfeit, 137. 

couplets, 190. 

cousin, 36. 

covenant, 28. 

cozenage, 195. 

cozen'd, 139. 

cracked (voice), 93. 

cracked within the ring, 93. 

crafts, 145. 

credent, 47. 

crescent, 46. 

crib, 196. 

cried in the top, 94. 

crimeful, 167. 

croaking, 123. 

crocodile, 189. 

cross (a spirit), 30, 

crow-flowers, 175. 

crowner, 177. 

cry, 124. 

cry out on, 88. 

cue, 99. 

cunnings, 174. 

curb and woo, 142, 

curiously, 185. 

currents, 132. 

cut-purse, 140, 

Cyclops, 96, 



daintier, 180. 
daisy, 163. 
dallying, 123. 
damned, 115. 
Damon, 124. 
Dane (the), 24, 33, 188. 
Danskers, 67. 
debatement, 193. 
dead; meaning? 27,42. 
dead, for a ducat, 136. 
dead men's fingers, 175. 
dear soul, 114. 
dearest foe, 42. 
dearly, 151. 
dearth, 197. 
declension, 80. 
declining, 95. 
defeat, 100, 194. 
defeated, 33. 
defence, 171. 
definement, 197. 
deject, 109. 
deliver, 42, 210. 
delver, 177. 
demanded of, 148. 
demi-natured, 171. 
demonstrated, 30. 
Denmark, 36, 39. 
denote, 37. 
dexterity, 40. 
didest, 169. 
Dido, 94. 



INDEX. 



225' 



differences (excellent), 197. 

dilated, 34. 

disappointed, 61. 

disasters in the sun, 30. 

disclose, 110, 190. 

discourse, 154. 

discourse of reason, 40, 154. 

discovery, 85. 

disjoint, 34. 

dispatch'd, 61. 

distempered, 125, 141. 

distilled, 43. 

distracted, 149, 155. 

distrust you, 120. 

divulging, 147. 

document, 163. 

does (how does), 203. 

dog will have his day, 190. 

doom, 137. 

doomsday, 30. 

double-vouchers, 182. 

doublet, 71. 

doubt; meaning? 45, 76, 78, 

110. 
douts, 176. 
down-gyved, 71. 
dram of eale, 54. 
draw on more, 210. 
dread my lord, 35. 
dreadful, 43. 
drift, 174. 

drift of circumstance, 102. 
drunk-asleep, 134. 
ducats, 90, 136, 153. 
duke, 122. 

dumb-shows, 111, 118. 
dye, 52. 



eager, 52, 61. 
eale (dram of), 54. 
easiness, property of, 180. 
eat; eaten? 150. 
ecstasy, 72, 110, 142. 
-ed; suffix omitted, 109, 

143, 145. 
edge, 103. 
edified, 199. 
effects, 141. 
eisel, ]89. 
eldest, 131. 
Elsinore, 23. 
ends, 191. 
emulate, 27. 

-en ; suffix, as in eaten, 150. 
enact, 116. 
enactures, 121. 
encompassment, 67 
encumbered, 66. 
engaged, 132. 
enginer, 145. 
entertainment, 201. 
entreatments, 51. 
enviously, 155. 
ere, 40, 192. 
erring, 31. 
escoted, 88. 



-est ; superlative'ending, 29. 
estate, 186. 
eternal, 59, 209. 
eterne, 96. 
even = honest? 85. 
even Christian, 178. 
excellent differences, 197. 
exception, 202. 
excrements, 141. 
exorcism (by scholars), 25. 
expostulate, 77. 
express, 86. 
extent, 90. 
extravagant, 31. 
eyases, 88. 
eye, 153. 



falconers (French), 93. 

false fire, 124. 

fancy; meaning? 49. 

fang'd, 144. 

fantasy, 24. 

fardels, 106. 

fares, 70, 116. 

farm, 153. 

fashion, 46, 51, 110. 

fat; is Hamlet? 205. 

favor, 163, 185. 

fay, 84. 

fear = object of fear? 130. 

fear = fear for? 48, 135, 160. 

feature, 109. 

fee, 153. 

feelingly, 197. 

fellies, 96. 

fellowship, 124. 

fennel, 163. 

fetch of warrant, 69. 

few (in in few), 52. 

fierce, 30. 

find = find out? 111. 

find out them, 192. 

fine; and handsome, 94. 

fine; meaning? 94,162. 

finger'd, 192. 

fire; dissyl.? 51. 

fishmonger, 81. 

fitness, 201. 

flaw; gust? 186. 

flourishes, 77. 

flush, 133. 

flushing, 40. 

foil, 203. 

fond, 62, 200, 201. 

food and diet, 28. 

forbear, 189. 

for = as? 34. 

forzrras for? 38, 143. 

for = instead of? 187. 

for to, 110, 181. 

fordo, 186. 

fordoes, 72. 

fore, 95. • 

forgeries, 68, 171. 

forgot, 144, 159. 

Fortinbras, 27, 



Fortune (her wheel), 96. 

forty thousand, 189. 

forward, 102. 

four hours together, 80, 189. 

fox, 149. 

frailty (thy name, etc.), 40. 

frame, 126. 

free, 99, 122. 

French falconers, 93. 

fret, 128. 

fretted, 86. 

friending, 66. 

from; sense? 112. 

front, 137. 

fruit, 75. 

full of bread, 133. 

function, 99. 

fust, 154. 

a 

gaged, 28. 

gain-giving, 202. 

'gainst, 32. 

gait, S4. 

gall, 100. 

galled, 40, 122. 

gambol, 142. 

gender, 167. 

general, 94, 167. 

general assault, 68. 

gentle entertainment, 201. 

gentry, 74, 197. 

germane, 199. 

get thee, 108. 

gib, 144. 

gibber, 29. 

gins, 62, 152. 

give = may God give? 24. 

give deed = verify? 47. 

giving-out, 66. 

globe"; sense? 62. 

glow-worm, 62. 

go about, 127. 

go seek, 72. 

go to, 51. 

goblins, 192. 

God; changed to Heaven? 

71. 
God-a-mercy, 81. 
good; vocative? 27. 
good madam, 205. 
good my brother, 48. 
good my lord, 70. 
good-by, 70, 98. 
good-kissing, 81. 
goodly, 42. 
goose-quills, 88. 
gorge, 185. 
grace, 38, 39. 
grace, herb o', 163. 
gracious, 32, 196. 
grained, 139. 
grating, 102. 
greenly, 158. 
griefs, 110. 
grizzled, 44. 
gross, 154. 



226 



INDEX. 



gross and scope, 27. 
grossly, 133. 
groundlings, 111. 
grunt, 106. 
gules, 95. 
gulf, 130. 
gyved, down-, 71. 
gyves, 167. 

H 

habit, outward, 200. 
handsaw, hawk from a, 90, 

91. 
handsome; fine? 94. 
hangers, 199. 
happily, 30, 41. 
happy time, 201. 
haps, 152. 
harbingers, 30. 
hard = reluctant? 35. 
harrows, 26. 
hatchment, 164. 
haunt, 147. 
have after, 57. 
havior, 36, 37. 
havoc, cries on, 209. 
hawk from a handsaw, 90. 
head, 159. 
health, 47, 170. 
hearsed, 55. 
heaven-kissing, 138. 
Heavens, 75, 143. 
hebenon, 60. 
Hecaie's, 123. 
hectic, 152. 
hent, 134. 
heraldry, 95. 
hernshaw, 90. 
herb o' grace, 163. 
Hercules, 40, 89. 
Herod, 112. 
hey-day, 138. 
hie et ubique^ 65. 
hide fox, 149. 
hillo, 63. 
him ; for ^6 f 69. 
his (for its ?) , 43, 49, 132. 
ho = stop? 206. 
hobby-horse, 118. 
hoist, 145. 
hold, 200. 

hold up = uphold? 178. 
hold'st at aught, 152. 
holds quantity, 120. 
home, 130, 134. 
honest, 107. 
honestly, 82, 107. 
hoodman-blind, 139. 
hoops ; or hooks ? 49. 
horse; Trojan? 95. 
hour; dissyl.? 53. 
hugger-mugger, 158. 
humor, 74. 
humorous, 87. 
husbandry, 49. 
hush; adjective? 96. 
Hymen, 119. 



Hyperion,' 39, 137. 
Hyrcanian, 94. 



I; for aye? 124. 

I; or we? royal style? 168. 

idle, 79, 116. 

'ield; for yield? 157. 

if that, 153. 

ill-breeding, 156. 

illume, 25. 

image, 122. 

immediate, 38. 

impartment, 56. 

impasted, 95. 

imperial, 186. 

implorators, 52 

impon'd, 199. 

important, 140. 

importing, 34, 170, 192. 

imports, 198. 

importunate, 155. 

importuned; accent? 51. 

imposthume, 153. 

impress, 27. 

in =in the thought of? 190. 

in = into? 178,195. 

in little, 90. 

in that, 34. 

in the sun, 36. 

incapable, 175. 

incensed, 194. 

incorporal, 141. 

incorps'd, 171. 

incorrect, 37. 

indentures, 182. 

index, 137. 

indict, 94. 

indifferent, 83, 108, 196. 

indifferently, 113. 

individable, 91. 

indued, 175. 

inexplicable. 111. 

infusion, 197. 

ingenious, 188. 

inheritor, 182. 

inhibition, 87. 

iimovation, 87. 

insinuation, 194. 

instance, 162. 

instances, 120. 

instant, 61, 97. 

interim, 195. 

i' the sun, 36. 

intil, 180. 

inventors', 210. 

investments, 52. 

it; for its? 43. 



jade, 122. 

jangled out of tune, 109. 
jealousy, 73. 
Jephthah, 92. 



jig, 97, 108, 117. 
John-a-dreams, 99. 
jointress, 33. 
Jove, 125, 137. 
jowls, 180. 
jump, 27, 209. 



K 



keeps himself in clouds, 

158, 159. 
kettle, 204. 
kept short, 146. 
kibe, 183. 

kill . . . dead, 120. 
kin, and less than kind, 36. 
kindless, 100. 
know = recognize? 191. 
knowing, 193. 
Kronborg (castle), 23. 



lack; intransitive? 66. 

lady, our, 93, 118. 

lapsed in time and passion, 

140. 
lapwing, 200. 
larded, 157, 192. 
law and heraldry, 28. 
law of writ, etc., 92. 
lazar-like, 61. 
leans on, 151. 
leave = leave off? 69, 120, 

138. 
left, 40. 
lenten, 86. 
let; caused? 165. 
lets; hinders? 57. 
Lethe, 59. 
level, 148, 161. 
liberal, 175, 199. 
liege, 75. 

lies; legal sense? 132. 
lightness, 80. 
like = likely? 44. 
likes; suits? 204. 
limed, 132. 

-ling (in changeling), 194. 
list, 159. 
litotes, 188. 
littlest, 120. 
living, 190. 
loam, 186. 
loggats, 181. 
long purples, 175. 
look = appear? 174. 
loves ; plu. for sing. ? 32, 45. 
loves = lovers? 121. 
lunacy, 102, 129. • 
luxury, 61. 



M 

machine, 79. 

mad north-northwest, 90. 



INDEX. 



227 



maimed rites, 186. 

main, 76, 153. 

mainly, 167. 

make, 85. 

make assay, 132. 

make mouths, 155. 

manner ; or manor ? 53. 

margent, 199. 

market J 154. 

market of his time, 154. 

marry, 50, 178. 

Mars, 96, 138. 

mart, 27. 

marvellous, 67, 125. 

mass, 69. 

masterly report, 171. 

matin, 62. 

matter, 77, 82, 162. 

mazzard, 181. 

me = for me? 67, 93, 100, 

135. 
me=:to me? 120. 
means; of access? 165. 
meed = merit? 198. 
Mercury, 138. 
merely, 39. 
mermaid-like, 175. 
mettle, 28. 

miching mallecho, 118. 
might = could? 26,39. 
mightiest Julius, 29. 
milch, 97. 

milky; meaning? 95. 
military terms, 25. 
mincing, 97. 
mineral, 147. 
ministering angel, 187. 
mistook, 210. 
mobled, 97. 
model, 194. 
modesties; plu. for sing.? 

85. 
modesty, 112. 
moist star, 30. 
mole of nature, 54. 
moment, 52. 
mope, 139. 
more above, 79. 
more (and most), 67. 
more nearer, 67. 
moreover, 73. 
most = greatest? 66. 
most best, 79. 
mote, 29. 
motion, 138. 
mould of form, 109. 
moult, 85. 

mount of all the age, 168. 
mountebank, 173. 
mouse stirring, 23. 
mouth, 111, 190. 
mows, 90. 

much; meaning? 23. 
muddy-mettled", 99. 
murde ring-piece, 159. 
mutes, 207. 
rautine, 139. 
mutines, 191. 



JM 

napkin, 205. 

native to, 35, 53, 175. 

nature, 36. 

naught, 119. 

neighbored, 74. 

Xemean, 57. 

Xeptune's, 30, 119. 

Nero, 129. 

nerve, 57. 

neutral, 96. 

nickname, 108, 109. 

nighted, 36. 

nill, 177. 

Niobe, 40. 

nobility, 38. 

nomination, 198. 

nominative wanting, 76. 

nonce, 174. 

nor it cannot, 40. 

nor . . . not. 111. 

Norway (king?), 26, 153. 

not needs, 121. 

note = attention? 115. 

nothing; adverb? 35. 

noyance, 130. 

numbers, 78. 

nymph, 106. 



o 

obscure; accent? 164. 
obsequious, 37. 
occulted, 115. 
occurrents, 208. 
odds, 201, 204. 
o'er-crows, 208. 
o'er-raught, 103. 
o'er-reaches, 181. 
o'er-sized, 95. 
o'er-teemed, 97. 
o'ertook, 69. 
of=:about? 157. 
of = by? 24, 25, 148. 
of = consisting in? in con- 
sequence of? 154. 
of = from, 74. 
of = on? 164. 
of = over? 74. 
of = up£n, 85. 
of = with? 187. 
of; superfluous? 74,136. 
of a doubt, 54. 
of memory, rights, 210. 
of wisdom = wise? 70. 
offal, 100. 
offendendo, 177. 
offence, 122, 132. 
old; meaning? 165. 
omen, 30. 
on a roar, 185. 
on brood, 110. 
on=in consequence of ? 210. 
once, 63. 

opened ; made known ? 74. 
operant, 120. 
opposites, 194. 



or (ere), 40. 
ordinant, 194. 
ordnance, 204. 
ore, 147. 
organ, 170. 
orisons, 106. 
ostentation, 164. 
our lady, 93. 
out-herods, 112. 
out-stretched, 84. 
outward habit, 200. 
overlooked, 165. 
overpeering, 159. 
owl was a baker's daugh- 
ter, 157. 



packing, 145. 

paddock, 144. 

pah, 185. 

painted tyrant, 95. 

pajock, 124, 125. 

pall, 191. 

panders, 139. 

pansies, 163. 

paragon, 86. 

parchment, 182. 

pardon, 35, 126, 202. 

parle, 26. 

part = talent? 170, 197. 

partisan, 31. 

pass, 194. 

pass of practice, 173, 206. 

passage, 210. 

passion, 97, 163. 

pat, 133. 

pate, 100, 111, 180. 

patience, 117. 

Patrick, 64. 

peace-parted, 187. 

peak, 99. 

pearl, 205. 

peculiar life, 130. 
! pelican, 161. 
I Pelion, 188. 
i perdition, 197. 
■ perdy, 125. 

periwig-pated. 111. 

perpend, 78. 

persever, 37. 

perusal, 71. 

peruse, 173. 

pester, 34. 

petar, 145. 

Phoebus, 119. 

picked, 183. 

pickers, 126. 

pigeon-livered, 100. 

pioner, 65. 

pious bonds, 52. 

pious chanson, 92. 

plausive, 54. 

Plautus, 92. 

played the desk, 79. 

plurisy, 172. 

ply his music, 90, 71. 

point, 42, 43. 



228 



INDEX, 



Polacks (orpoleaxe!) 26. 
pole = pole-star? 25. 
politic worms, 150. 
politiciau, 181. 
poll, 164. 

porpentine, 58, 59. 
posset, 61. 
posy, 119. 

pound; plural? 125. 
practice, 170, 173, 201, 207. 
precedent, 140, 203. 
precurse, 30. 
pregnant, 82, 114. 
prenominate, 69. 
presence, 202. 
present, 152. 
presently, 81, 101, 113. 
presentment, 137. 
pressures, 62, 112. 
prevent, 85. 
pricked on, 27. 
primrose, 48. 
primy, 46. 
prithee, 97. 
probation, 32. 
process, 130, 152. 
prodigal; adverb? 51. 
profanely, 112. 
profound, 146. 
progress, 150. 
prologue, 192. 
pronounce, 126. 
proof, 96, 136. 
proper, 196. 
property, 99. 
property of easiness, 180. 
prophetic soul, 60. 
proportions, 34. 
proposer, 85. 
protests, 122.^ 
Provincial (roses), 124. 
provoke, 73. 
puffed, 48. 
purgation, 125. 
purging, 82. 
purples (long), 175. 
purport; accent? 71. 
pursy, 142. 
push, 190. 
put on, 210. 
puts on, 102, 173. 
Pyrrhus, 94. 

Q- 

quaintly, 68. 
quality, 88, 89, 93. 
quantity, 113, 120, 139, 189. 
quarry, 208. 
quest, 178. 
question, 29, 102. 
question, top of the, 88. 
questionable, 55. 
quick; alive? 101,172,188, 

189. 
quiddits, 181. 
quietus, 106. 
quillets, 181. 



quintessence, 86. 
quit, 195, 204. 
qui Vive, 23. 
quoted, 72. 

R. 

rack, 96. 

range, 129. 

rank, 39, 153. 

rankly, 59. 

rascal, 99. - 

rashly, 191. 

ravel . . . out, 144. 

rawer, more rawer, 198. 

razed, 124. 

reach; mental? 70. 

reckon, 79. 

recognizances, 182. 

recorders, 125. 

records; accent? 62. . 

recover the wind of, 127. 

rede, 48. 

re-deliver, 200. 

reechy, 144. 

regards, 77. 

region, 96, 100. 

relative, 101. 

relish of, 108. 

remember; your courtesy? 

197. 
remiss, 173. 
remorse, 96. 
remove, 158. 
repair, 202. 
replication, 148. 
requiem, 187. 
residence, 87. 
resolutes, 28. 
resolve = dissolve? 39. 
respect, 105, 197. 
rest = tarrying ? 74. 
rests = remains ? 132. 
retrograde, 38. 
revenge, 58, 173. 
revenue, 114. 
revolution, 181. 
rhapsody, 137. 
Rhenish, 53. 
rheum, 97. 

richer (more richer), 125. 
rights of memory, 210. 
ring (within the), 93. 
rite^s, 187. 
rivals, 24. 
roaming it, 51. 
Robin; ballad, 163. 
Roman, 208. 
romage, 29. 
rood, 135. 
Roscius, 91. 
rosemary, 162. 
roses; Provincial? 124. 
rosemary, 162. 
rough-hew, 191. 
round = " square " ? 79, 

111, 135. 
rouse, 39, 69, 70. 



row, 92. 
rub, 105. 
rue, 163. 



S. 



sables, 117, 170. 

safety; trisyl.? 47. 

Saint Patrick, 64. 

sallets, 94. 

sanctuarize, 173. 

sans, 139. 

sat me, 193. 

satirical rogue, 82. 

satyr, 39. 

saws, 62. 

sayst (thou sayst), 178. 

'sblood, 90, 128. 

scapes, 45, 98. 

scarf'd, 192. 

scholar, 25. 

sconce, 182. 

scope, 122. 

scrimers, 171. 

scullion, 100. 

se offendendo, 177. 

sea-gown, 192. 

sea of troubles, 105. 

season, 42, 50, 68, 121. 

seasons, 121. 

secure, 60. 

seeming-virtuous, 60. 

seized = possessed? 28. 

semblable, 197. 

Seneca, 92. 

sense, 138, 143, 188. 

sensible, 26. 

sensibly, 161. 

sere (tickle o' the), 87. 

sergeant, 207. 

service, 46. 

several, 192. 

severally, 145. 

shall = will? 67, 126. 

shall (ellipsis of go?), 97 

110. 
shapes our ends, 191. 
shards, 187. 
share, 124. 
shark'd up, 28. 
sheen, 119. 
shent, 129. 
shook, 168. 
shoon, 156. 

should = would, 82, 125. 
should = was to ? 169. 
shouldst=:wouldst? 56. 
shrewdly, 52. 
shriving-time, 194. 
shuffling, 173. "^ 

sick at heart, 23. 
siege, 170. 
sigh, 172. 
silence, 135. 
simple, 37. 
simples, 173. 
single and peculiar, 130. 
sit we, 25. 



INDEX. 



229 



eith, 73, 74, 154, 156. 

sits (the wind sits), 48. 

sized, 120. 

skirts, 28. 

slander, 52. 

sledded, 26. 

slips, 68. 

sliver, 175. 

smirched, 160. 

so please you. 111. 

so; omitted before that? 

165, 174. 
soft, 60. 
softly, 153. 
soldiers; trisyl.? 64. 
solicited, 208. 
solidity, 137. 
something-settled, 110. 
somelirae, 33, 107. 
sometimes, 26. 
sort, 29. 

soul (dear), 114. 
sounded, 102. 
sovereignty of reason, 57. 
sparrow (fail of a), 202. 
speak daggers, 129. 
speak fair, 147. 
spendthrift sigh, 172. 
sphere, 167. 
spies, 158. 
spills, 156. 

spirit; monosyl.? 32. 
splenitive, 188, 189. 
sponge, 148. 
springes, 51, 206. 
spurns, 155. 
stages (common), 88. 
stand; challenge? 24. 
stand . . . upon, 195. 
star (moist star), 30. 
star = sphere? 79. 
stars (wandering), 188. 
stars with trains of tire, 29. 
station, 138. 
statists, 193. 
statutes, 182. 
stay upon, 117. 
steal, 116. 
sterling, 51. 
stick tiery off, 203. 
still, 30, 38, 172. 
stithy, 115. 
stomach, 28, 29. 
stops, 128. 
stOLip, 179, 204. 
straight, 93, 134, 177. 
strewments, 187. 
strike (planets strike), 32. 
strucken, 124. 
stuck, 174. 
subject, 25, 34. 
substance of a doubt, 54. 
succession, 89. 
sum of parts, 170. 
summons, 31. 
sun (too much i' the), 34. 
supervise, 192. 
suppliance, 46. 



supply and profit, 74. 
supposal, 33, 34. 
suspi ration, 36. 
swaddling, 91. 
sweet; euphuistic? 196. 
Switzers, 159. 
swoons, 206. 
swoopstake, 161. 
sword (upon my), 64. 
'swounds, 100, 189. 
synod, 96. 

T. 

table, tables, 62. 

take arms against a sea, 105. 

take = assume? 67. 

takes (fairy takes) , 32. 

tardy (come tardy off), 112. 

tarre, 89. 

tax = censure? 53. 

tax him home, 130. 

Tellus', 119. 

tempered, 207. 

temple = the body? 46. 

tenable, 45. 

tend, 50, 151. 

tender, 51, 151. 

tenders, 51. 

tenures, 181. 

Termagant, 112. 

thanks; singular? 23. 

that; superfluous? 74,153, 

174, 190. 
that = as? 136. 
that = if? 174,201. 
that = such? 41, 60. 
that = 80 that? 165, 174. 
that = though? 33, 174. 
the; French use of? 27, 28, 

35. 
thee = thou? 25, 108. 
theft = thing stolen? 116. 
thereabout, 94. 
there 's=there are? 144, 155. 
these ; in superscription ? 

78. 
thews, 46. 

thieves of mercy, 165. 
thinks 't thee, 194. 
those his ; legal and Latin ? 

28. 
thou ; familiar use? 38, 142, 

183. 
thou say'st, 178. 
thought, 106, 163. 
thought-sick, 137. 
thrift, 41, 114. 
throughly, 161. 
throwing about of brains, 

89. 
tickle o' the sere, 87. 
till, 38. 

time (in happy time), 201. 
time = the times? 105. 
tinct. 139. • 
tithe, 140. 
to; omitted? 40. 



torsas? 33. 

to=corapared with? 39, ( 

to-do, 89. 

toil, 127. 

toils; causative? 27. 

too-much; noun? 172. 

too much i' the sun, 34. 

too much proved, 104. 

top (cried in the), 94. 

top of my bent, 128. 

top of questipn, 88. 

topp'd, 171. 

touched, 164. 

toward, 27, 209. 

toy, 46. 

toys, 57. 

trace, 198. 

trade, 126. 

trail, 174. 

trick, 176, 181. 

trick of fame, 156. 

tricked, 95. 

tristful, 137. 

triumph, 53. 

tropically, 122. 

true-penny, 65. 

trumpet, 31. 

truncheon, 43. 

turn Turk, 124. 

Turk, 124. 

tush! 25. 

twelve for nine, 199. 

two days old at sea, 165. 

tyrannically, 88. 



u. 

umbrage, 198. 
unanel'd, 61. 
unbated, 173, 207. 
unbraced, 71. 
uncharge, 170. 
undergo, 54. 
uneffectual, 62. 
ungartered, 71. 
ungored, 203. 
ungracious, 48. 
^JOnhousel'd, 61. 
unimproved, 28. 
union, 204, 207. 
unkennel, 115. 
unlimited, 91, 92. 
unmastered, 47. 
unpregnant, 99. 
unprevailing, 38. 
unproportion'd, 48. 
unreclaimed, 68. 
unshaped, 156. 
unsifted, 50. 
unsinewed, 167. 
unsmirched, 160. 
untimely, 147. 
unvalued, 47. 
un wrung, 123. 
unyoke, 179. 
upon, 23, 41. 
upshot, 210. 



230 



INDEX. 



upspring, 53. 
uses, 39. 
usurp'st, 26. 



V. 

vailed, 36. 
valanced, 93. 
Valentine's day, 157. 
validity, 121. 
vantaa:e, 131. 
variable, 110, 150. 
vast, 42. 
ventages, 127. 
very, 170. 
vice of kings, 140. 
videlicet^ 70. 
violets, 44, 163, 187. 
virtue, 162. 
voice; sense? 35. 
vouchers (double), 182. 
vouchsafe your rest, 74. 
vows; syllab.? 51. 
vulgar, 49. 

"W. 

wag, 136, 189. 

walk in death, 31. 

wandering stars, 188. 

wanned, 99. 

wanton, make a wanton of, 

206. 
warrant; monosyl.? 45. 



warrantise, 187. 

wash (salt wash), 119. 

wassail, 53. 

watch = insomnia f 80. 

water-fly, 196. 

we; for I, royal style? 168. 

weeds (midnight weeds), 

123. 
weeds = garments ? 170. 
week, 27. 
well-took, 77. 
well = welfare? 91. 
wharf, 59. 

what = who ? 165, 179. 
wheel, 162. 

whether ; monosyl. ? 74, 121. 
which; for who or that? 

166. 
which time ; adverbial? 175. 
whiles, 48. 
whips, 146. 

who; personification? 38. 
who ; for iDhom f 82, 190. 
wholesome, 126. 
will; sense? 47, 155, 200. 
willow, 175. 
wind sits, 48. 
windlasses, 70. 
winking, 79. 
winnowed, 200, 201. 
wisdoms, 33. 
wit, 77. 
witching, 128. 
with, 34, 43. 
withal, 47, 82, 114, 174. 



withdraw, 127. 
withers, 123. 
witness, 42. 
woman = tears, 176. 
wonder-wounded, 188. 
woodcock, 51, 206. 
woo't, 189. 
wormwood, 120. 
word=:watchword? 63, 159. 
worser, 142. 
would = should? 133. 
would:= wishes to? 26. 
wreck, 72. 
wretch, 81, 176. 
writ; for written? 44. 
writ (law of), 92. 
writ = written mandate ? 
194. 

Y. 

Yaughan, 179. 
yaw, 197. 

year; plu. for sing.? 184. 
yeoman's service, 193. 
yesty collection, 200. 
yield ('ield), 157. 
yond ; and yon f 25. 
Yorick, 185. 
your, 108, 127. 



zone, 189. 



GRUBE'S METHOD 

OF TEACHING ARITHMETIC EXPLAINED. WITH A LARGE NUMBER 
OF PRACTICAL HINTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

By prof. F. LOUIS SOLDAN, 
Principal of the Normal School, St. Louis, Mo. 



Many teachers know of ** Grube's Method" by the hearing of the ear. They will be 
thankful for the day ^vhich first gave them a clear understanding of it. Here it is in full, by 
one of the most eminent and successful teachers in the country. The first and only publica- 
tion of the kind in this country. Price 30 cents. 



OUTLINES OF MAP-DRAWING, 

WITH DIAGRAMS FOUNDED ON PARALLELS AND MERIDIANS. 

By F. E. bangs, 
principal of wooster school, new haven, conn. 



FROM THE INTRODUCTION, 

" The aim of the author has been to construct approximately accurate outline-maps by the 
use of diagrams founded on parallels and meridians. These lines are common to all maps, and 
the system here presented may be used in connection with any series of geographies. 

" The simplicity and uniformity of the system are its merits. The rectangle, 5 by 4 inches, 
is common to all the maps. The side lines on the sectional maps of the United States, and the 
centre meridian on the maps of the continents, are divided into equal parts; and the length of 
one degree, as measured on these lines, is taken as the unit of measurement. The relative 
areas of the sections, or countries, may be found by comparing the squares, each square being 
one square degree, or equal to the area of the State of Connecticut. 

*' In the sectional maps of the United Stales the side lines are divided into a given number 
of equal parts. The slant of the meridian is determined by a convenient measurement. The 
remainder of the top line, and the base line, are divided into the same number of equal parts as 
the side line, giving the location of the parallels and meridians. These sectional maps, with 
their diagrams, are readily combined to form the map of the United States. 

" On the maps of the continents, the centre meridian is divided into equal parts, giving the 
points through which any parallels may be drawn, and determining the position of the tropics 
and polar circles. The parallels of North America, Europe, and Asia, are formed by circles 
whose centre is at a given point above the top line, — the north pole. The parallels of the 
other continents are formed by straight Hues. 

" The hemispheres are presented in outline, and are easily completed. These outlines enclose 
certain prominent geographical features, which determine the position and direction of the re- 
mainder. The parallels and meridians are formed by circles with different centres. 

" The list of topics is designed to accompany the drawing of the map, and to present in the 
outline the prominent physical features of the section or country. The cities are grouped, by 
states or countries, in order of size and with reference to their leading industries. The de- 
scription of these countries and cities, as indicated in the list of topics, may be found in the 
text-book and gazetteer. 

" This system is a product of the schoolroom, and has been taught successfully, both in the 
primary and intermediate grades, proving itself fully within the ability of young pupils to com- 
prehend and practice." 

The maps are printed on tinted plates ruled to show comparative area; 
the diagrams and directions are simple and definite ; and the list of topics, 
while a guide to the drawing, furnishes valuable suggestions and informa- 
tion. The work contains suggestions to teachers, a relief-map for each of 
the continents, with directions for molding. The system is complete in it- 
self, and may be used with any text-book on geography. Price 30 cents. 

S. R. WINCHELL & CO., Publishers, 
CHICAGO, ILL. 



PRIMARY FRIDAYS. No. 1. 

^ rich collection of Sliort and Pretty Pieces for the little ones to speak in 

school. Just what has long been wanted by mothers and 

primary teachers. 

REVISED EDITION. Price 25 cents. 

" Contains some eighty or ninety little pieces just right for the smallest tots to learn. The 
selections have been made with much industry and skill, and the book is just the thing for 
mothers and primary teachers in search of a piece." — Indiana School Joicrnal. 

" The selections are varied, and admirably adapted to contribute to the cheerfulness of 
school and home, and must prove not only a convenience, but a blessing, to teachers, children, 
and parents." — Journal of Editcation. 

"Just the thing for recitations for the little ones. It is replete with choice selections." — 
Michigan School Moderator. 

" This is one of the choicest collections of pieces for the little ones that we have seen. 
Every thing in it is wholesome." — Intelligence. 

" A rich collection for small children." — Educational Weekly. 



PRIMARY FRIDAYS. No. 2. 

Price 25 cents. 

Better, if possible, than the first volume. Contains fresh and pretty pieces, mostly in verse, 
only for the very youngest. No primary teacher can afford to be without these charming little 
volumes. 



SUPPLEMENTARY READING. 

We have In press a series of choice reading-books, original and translated, bound in paper 
covers, prepared to meet a growing want for cheap supplementary reading-matter. The fol- 
lowing numbers are now ready: —- 

1. THE STORY WITHOUT AN END. Translated from the German of F. W. 

Carove, by J C. Pickard. Suitable for Fourth-Reader Classes. lo cents. 

2. LITTLE PEOPLE: THEIR DOINGS AND MISDOINGS. By Kate L. 

Brown. Suitable for Second-Reader Classes. 10 cents. 



GAMES. 

By ALICE M. GUERNSEY. 

1. QUOTATIONS. Designed for the Shakspeare Day of the C. L. S. C. 25 cents. 

2. ELEMENTS AND COMPOUNDS. A Chemical Game. For School and Home 

use. 25 cents. 

3. PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE. In preparatioti. 



S. R. WINCHELL & CO., 

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS .... CHICAGO, ILL. 



INE THOUSAND WAYS 

OF ONE THOUSAND TEACHERS. 

This book has won its way into general favor by ita orig- 
inality of design and its practical character. The best 
teachers of the country have contributed to its pages. It 
is a book for every teacher who wishes to know 

of all work done in the schoolroom. It covers the entire 
field, as may be seen by the table of 

CONTENTS. 
Chapter 1— OpeDing and Closing of School; Chapter 2 — Reading; 
Chapter 3— Arithmetic; Chapter 4 — NN riting; Chapter 5 — Spell- 
ing; Chapter 6 — Grammar; Chapter 7 — Geography; Chapter 
8 — Histor}' ; Chapter 9 — Discipline and School Management ; 
Chapter 10 — Absence and Tardiness; Chapter 11 — Say- 
ings of Experienced Educators. Chapter 13— Forms. 



TESTIMONIALS. 

Many teachers are inquiring " What shall I do with this case, and 
what with that one?" Get "One Thousand Ways '' and you will likely 
find an ansAver, — Nokmal Teacher, 

As each extract is short, often only two or three lines and very sel- 
dom so much as a page, no elaborate methods are given, but a great 
variety of suggestive and pregnant hints. — Iow^a Normal Monthly. 

Tt is a mine, practically inexhaustible, to any true lover of his work, 
of hint and pithy suggestion. — School Herald, Chicago. 

It is the "book of Proverbs" among works for teachers. — A. E. 
Jones . 

The idea is novel and interesting, and the book is worth having, — N. 
Y. School Bulletin . 

The plan is an excellent one, and among the good books for teachers 
it is one of the best, — Prof. G. Dallas Lind. 

The work will pull any teacher out of ruts. It is practical and con- 
tains a large fund of valuable expedients. — Arthur Burch. 

It contains very many valuable ii:nts, and the practical character of 
its suggestions will help many to new ideas. — Proe. John W. Cook. 



l^rices Postpaid f $1M0. 

S. R. WINCHELL & CO., 

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS . . . CHICAGO, ILL, 



— 02T THE— 



Theoi^y and Pi^agtigb of Tbaghieg. 

-^By duane doty.^t- 



Prepared for the Teachers of the Public Schools of Chicago. Contains 
Pules on the Duties of Teachers to Pupils^ on their Duties to Parents^ 
on Duties to School Property^ to the School Authorities ^ to the School^ to 
Themselves and to Other Teachers, 



The Second Part points out clearly the Duties of Pupils 
to the School, their conduct in the School House, conduct 
outside the School, to Teachers, to Schoolmates, to Prop- 
erty and to Themselves. 



Hundreds of Testimonials have been sent us for 

this little Manual from which we 

quote as follows : 

*'The brevity of the rules appears to be, in most instances, a merit. The 
numerous hints strike the eye with their full force without the consumption 
of any appreciable time. The discretion and labor manifest in the work, 
leave very little room for criticism." — W. C. SAWYER, Professor in Normal 
School, Oshkosh, Wis. 

*'Avery valuable book for teachers, — comblete in the smallest details 
and not cumbersome." *'Very valuable." *'A very useful little manual 
which all teachers should get." ^'Contains many valuable suggestions, and 
is calculated to be a useful reminder to teachers of the many requirements 
needed for good and successful school work." **Should be in the hands 
of every teacher." * 'Contains the condensed wisdom of many volumes." 
*'The price is nothing compared with the benefit that would result from its 
use." *'Contains many very excellent suggestions on the duties of teachers 
and pupils." * 'Full of meaty, practical maxims for the school-room. *'The 
tone of the work is of the highest merit." *'We can heartilly recommend it 
to all teachers." *^A very useful manual." "Valuable not only to tyros 
in the pedagogic art, but to many that have spent years in the school- 
room." "Worthy of the attention of teachers." "We gladly commend it." 
"Contains much more of useful matter than many of the more pretentious 
volumes on the subject of which it treats." "Admirably adapted to every 
teacher and school." "Worth many times its cost." "Covers a great deal 
of ground in short hints. " 

Hent rrepaid ta any Part of the World on Receipt of TEN CENTS, by 

the Publishers. 



S. R. WINCHELL & CO., Publishers, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



REPORT CARDS. 



K large variety. For all purposes. Handsomely printed. 50 cents, $1.00, 
and $1.50 per hundred, postpaid. 

FOR GRADED AND UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 

Neat reports to parents once a month, or oftener, are a great help to any teacher. Try 
them once, and you will never abandon the practice. 

CHICAGO REPORT CARD. 

Recitation and Report Cards combined. This is a very convenient device for handlin? 
large classes, calling on pupils at random, without being obliged to think of the name before- 
hand, or giving the pupils any idea of who is to be called on, and at the same time having the 
means of marking right in one's own hand. Each class should be represented by a pack, and 
the packs may be of different colors. On the back is a complete monthly report to parents. 
The card can be used either for marking recitations or reporting to parents, or both. If used 
for both purposes, the parents have an opportunity of seeing the record of each day's recita- 
tions. 

Price 50 cents per hundred, postpaid. 

Samples of various styles of Report Cards will be sent on receipt of a two-cent stamp. 



. LATIN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

AN AFFIRMATIVE ARGUMENT. 
By E. H. ELY. 

Contains valuable hints for those who wish to defend the study of Latin in the public schools. 

Price 15 cents. 



A RHYME OF THE DISTRICT SCHOOL 

By NORMAN CAROLAN PERKINS, Esq. 

Read at the annual meeting of the " Sons of Vermont," in Chicago. It must be seen to be 
appreciated. It is a true picture of the scenes and experiences of a teacher who " boarded 
'round" in the rural districts of Vermont, and abounds in- amusing sketches and colloquies 
characteristic of the New-England country school and the homes of the New-England farmers. 
It is something every teacher will appreciate. Just the thing for recitation at a school exhi- 
bition. 

Price 15 cents. 



S. R. WINCHELL & CO., Publishers, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Masterpieces in English Literature. 

"YOU CANNOT BEAD EVERY THING! BEAD, THEN, THE BEST." 
By HOMER B. SPRAGUE, A.M., Ph.D., 

President of Mills College ; late Head Master of the Girls' High School, Boston ; formerly 
Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in Cornsll University. 

This work presents some of those productions of genius which are the glory of our 
literature, and of which it is a shame to be ignorant. Copious explanatory^ notes make 
the reading easy and delightful. A sketch of each author's life and works is given. 

These brilliant and powerful productions are made the basis of study. To this end, 
a brief statement of the genealogy and development of the English language is prefixed, 
and, by a kind of object-teaching, these masterpieces are made to furnish the basis and 
materials for investigation in language, rhetoric, and literature. Chaucer's exquisite 
tale of PATiEjfT Griselda, and Spenser's Epithalamium are utilized in supplying matter 
for phonetic and etymological research. Bacon's Essays are made to afford lessons 
in grammatical equivalents. Shakespeare's majestic tragedy of Macbeth gives oppor- 
tunity, too good to be lost, for thorough elocutionary analysis. So jMilton's Areopa- 
GITICA, in which *' every word leaps with intellectual life," hislNlASQUE of Comus, " the 
loftiest poem in praise of female purity in any language," and his Hymn on the Nativ- 
ITY," pronounced by Hallam ''the finest ode" in our tongue, lumish drill in syn- 
onyms ; and, lastly, the greatest of allegories, the first part of Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
Progress, yields studies in syntactical analysis and comparative philology. 

Among the prominent features of this work may be named the following •- 

1. It contains acknowledged Masterpieces only. 

2. It exhibits the author himself, rather than fine talk about him. 

3. It gives complete works, not scraps, chips, and mutilate d/ra^rT/ienfs. 

4. It has clear, copious, and suggestive explanatory notes. 

5. It continually assigns for study and for essays topics whose discussion will throw 

light upon the subject and the man. 

6. It constantly aims to stimulate original investigation and independent thought. 

7. By analysis of brilliant passages, it deduces the principles of vocal expression, 

laying a scientific basis for oral reading and public speaking. 

8. It contains, at the close of successive extracts, comprehensive summaries. 

9. Accompanying and often elucidating the best works of the best authors, it gives con- 

tinuous, progressive, and systematic lessons in the study of English language; 
also, 
10. An index to some two-thousand words and topics treated of in the foot-notes. 

The work contains 445 pages, on fine paper, bound in extra cloth. Price $2.00. 

Teachers wanting a copy for examination, with a view to introduction, may obtain 
it, prepaid by mail, for $1.50, the introduction price. The book may be returned if not 
satisfactory and the money will be refunded. 

4^- Those desiring it can be supplied with separate parts of the volume, bound in 
manila covers, at 25c. each. The " Mask of Comus " is now ready. 



S. R. WINCH ELL & CO., Publishers, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



1' 



SCHOOL SONGS. 

IN FOUR GRADES, 32 PAGES EACH. 

Primary : for Primary Grades only. Intermediate : Music written mostly 

In Two Parts. Grammar-School : Music written mostly in Three 

Parts. High School : Music written in Four Parts. 

Six books are now ready. Others will follow. 
By Professor H. W. FATRBANK. 

PRICE TEN CENTS EACH. 



The need of such cheap books as these, containing nothing but the best and standard melo- 
dies, has been felt and expressed by teachers for many years. They contain nothing but songs 
and music, not a word of instruction. They are so cheap, they can be procured for use by 
every school. They are strictly graded, each book containing only the songs of its own grade. 

I have received '* School Songs, Primary No. i." I think I must have hit upon one of the 
prettiest tunes in it to teach the children first, for I think that one tune alone worth the price of 
the book. Wealthy A. Holmes, 

West Bridgewater, Mass. 

We are much pleased with " Fairbank's School Songs." They are just what we need. 

B. L. Dodge, 
Principal Public Schools, Oak Park, III. 

I think the book " School Songs " is a little gem for the schoolroom. 

G. F. Aldrich, 

Millersville, O. 

We find " School Songs " very serviceable, and our pupils purchase it to use in their schools. 
The price puts it within the reach of everybody. J. W. Stearns, 

President State Normal School, Whitewater, Wis. 

The children are highly pleased with them. Miss Nannie Young, 

Washington, la. 

" School Songs " is a rare book for the price, and just suited to primary rooms. 

Helen C. Allen, 

Nashville, Mich. 

** It is to be commended for excellent taste, both In selection and arrangement." — School 
Herald. 

" The songs and music are select and good, nothing technical or very difficult." — Teacher* s 
Guide, 

" A choice collection of children's songs, with sweet and taking melodies (largely composed 
by the author) ." — Flint Journal. 

_" A handy pamphlet, containing an excellent collection of four-part songs for grammar and 
high schools, and the arrangement is deserving of especial praise. Mr. H. W. Fairbank, the 
compiler, has performed his task without fault, and proves that he has had large experience in 
adapting melodies to the capabilities of young children." — N.Y. School Jotirnal. 

" This [the Primary] Is certainly the ne phis ultra in primary song-books. Every melody 
is easy and pretty." — Practical Teacher. 



If teachers want more rote songs for "Supplementary Singing," here they are at a 

nominal price. 

S. R WINCHELL & CO., Chicago, 111. 



THE TOIC SOL-FA MUSIC COURSE FOR SCHOOLS. 

By DANIEL BATOHELBOR and THOMAS OHARMBURY. 



The Course consists of a series of four books in the Tonic Sol-Fa Notation, and Supplements 
with corresponding exercises in the Staff Notation. There is also a Manual for teachers, and 
Modulators for class use. 

The Step Modulator comprises modulators for the first, second, and third steps, nicely- 
printed on heavy, durable paper. Size, 30 x 54 inches. Price 25 cents. 

The Manual contains such instruction as will enable the ordinary teacher to teach the 
method intelligently, besides being a commentary upon the exercises in the different steps. 
Part I. explains the notation, and is a commentary on the first two steps. It also contains 
thirty-six rote songs for the lowest primary grade, with numerous hints for the teacher as to 
the formation of correct habits in singing. Limp cloth. Price 40 cents. 

Book I. contains studies and songs in the first and second steps of the Tonic Sol-Fa 
Method. These early steps are treated much more fully in this book than in any other work 
which has hitherto appeared. Price 15 cents. 

Book II. is devoted to the teaching of the third step. The development of the sub-domi- 
nant chord completes the diatonic scale, and new difficulties of rhythm are introduced. The 
exercises and songs of this book are suited to the highest primary and lower grammar-school 
classes. Price 15 cents. 

Book III. contains exercises and songs in the fourth step. In this step the subject of 
"transition" (sometimes called modulation), or passing from one key to another, is taught. 
In the first part of the book the transitions are in simple cadence form, but later on they are 
shown in their more extended forms. The rhythmic exercises are designed mainly to illustrate 
*' syncopation," the nature of which is explained in the Manual. There are several selections 
from standard composers. Price 15 cents. 

Book IV. takes up the fifth and sixth steps of the method, comprising extended transitions 
and minor music, with difficult forms of rhythm. It also contains a selection of choice music 
from the works of the great masters, which will prepare the pupils to sing advanced music '^t 
sight, as well as to have an intelligent appreciation of the musical classics. Price 15 cents. 

Book V. The first four books make a complete course of instruction in vocal music, but, 
for the benefit of those who may wish it, Book V. is prepared. It is a supplemental course in 
the Staff Notation, briefly covering all the six steps, and showing the pupils how to apply their 
musical knowledge to the staff representation of the subject. Price 15 oents. 



SUPPLEMENTS IN THE STAFF NOTATION. 

The first staff supplement may be taken up at the end of, or during, Bo9k II. It will be 
found that comparatively httle study will be required on the staff, as the pupils acquire a thor- 
ough knowledge of music itself by means of the simpler notation of the Sol- Fa books; the sup- 
plements simply require an understanding of a more complex representation of a subject 
already familiar, giving at the same time additional practice. 

Staff Supplement to Books I. and II. gives the first, second, and third steps of the 
Tonic Sol-Fa Method. Price 15 cents. 

Staff Supplement to Book III. covers the fourth step. Price 15 cents. 

Staff Supplement to Book IV. contains the fifth and sixth steps. Price 15 cents. 

To give all a chance to examine Tonic Sol-Fa, ONE copy each of Manual, Part I., Books 
I., II., and III., and Staff Supplement to Books I. and II., will be sent postpaid to any teacher 
of music, or school superintendent or teacher, on receipt of 45 cents. Or any one or all of 
the above books will be sent at one-half the retail price. In no case can more than one copy 
be sent at this rate. 

BOUQUET OF SONG. 

EDITED BY DANIEL BATCHELLOR, 

GRADUATE OF THE TONIC SOL-FA COLLEGE OF LONDON. 

A graded course of singing in the Tonic Sol-Fa notation, for the use of classes, beginning 
with the first step, and extending into the sixth step. Price 25 cents. 

S. R. WINCHELL & CO., Publishers, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



STANFORD'S WALL MAPS. 

UNIFORM IN SIZE, 52 x 60 INCHES. 

This series of Maps, so thoroughly known in England, has never before been imported in 
tnis country to any extent. 

They are strongly mounted on the best quality of linen. 

They are large and exceedingly distinct, being without minute and needless details. 

They are printed in permanent oil colors, which, though readily distinguished, are 
artistically combined. 

Their mountings are peculiar. Each roller is split, and the map, with its strong linen 
back, is firmly secured between. 

They can be used with any geography. 

The map of the United States is especially engraved for our purpose, and is unques- 
tionably the LATEST AND BEST. 

The series contains: — 

Eastern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere, Europe, Asia,, Africa, 
North America, South America, United States. Common school set. 

WoricZ (Mercator's Projection) ; Australia; India; Ne^^r England. 

British Isles, England, Scotland, London. Especially good for history. 

Single map, $5; set of eight maps, $32. Furnished on Spring Rollers if desired. 



PHYSICAL SBRIES. 

Edited by Sir A. C. RAMSAY, LL.D., F.R.S., late Director-General of the 
Geological Survey of the United Kingdom. 

The series is uniform with the Political Geography maps, and contains: — 

Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America., British Isles. 

Price ^ each, net. Spring Rollers if desired. 



BIBLICAL MAPS. 

The Holy Land. Size 52 x 60 inches $5.00 

Acts and Epistles (Paul's Travels). Size 34 x 42 inches . . . 3.75 

BIBLE LANDS. 

The Sunday-School Map of Bible Lands. Size 7 feet square . $8.00 



GEOLOGICAL MAP. 

World. By Jules Marcou. Size 72 x 50 inches $9 each. 



If returned at no expense to us, samples will be sent free for examination. 



Agents wanted in every county. Correspond at once with 

S. R. WINCHELL & CO., 

Chicago, III. 



FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS. 



MANUAL OF QUESTIONS ON THE FRENCH 
GRAMMAR. 

fn tended for Reviews, Examinations, and the Analysis of Selections in 

Readers. Prepared to meet the requirements for admission to the 

University of Michigan, and other Colleges and Universities. 

By Professor ALFRED HENNEQUIN, 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF FRENCH AND GERMAN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 

Price 25 cents. 

" Though first published in 1877, its real value to teachers and students has not been gen- 
erally known. Professor Hennequin is a scholarly, enthusiastic, and progressive instructor, as 
well as a successful author. Whatever he writes is marked by freshness, originality, and good 
scholarship." — New-Eftgland Journal of Education . 

Specimen copies for examination will be sent postpaid on receipt of fifteen cents. 



HAMLET. 

This is the first of a series of Shakespeare's Plays to be edited by Homer B. Sprague, 
A.M., Ph.D., President of Mills College. It is specially designed for class use, and is exceed- 
ingly rich in notes and suggestions. Handsomely bound in cloth, with flexible covers. It con- 
tains two hundred and twenty-two pages, besides a very copious Index. 

Introduction price, 50 cents. Paper-cover edition, 35 cents. 



MILTON'S MASK OF COMUS. 

Edited, with copious Explanatory Notes, and with Exercises in Synonymes, for the use of 
classes in Reading, Analysis, and Parsing. Reprinted from Sprague's "Masterpieces in 
English Literature." By Homer B. Sprague, A.M., Ph.D., President of Mills College. 

Bound in manila covers. 



Mailing price, 25 cents. Liberal discount for class supply. 



^1 



S. R. WINCHELL & CO., 

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS .... CHICAGO, ILL. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 094 749 



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